Expressive movement unit 2

In contrast to the preceding visual confusion, the roll call scene stages the creation of an image of the group as a homogenous unit. The shot composition turns this into a bracket at the beginning and the end, the editing in interplay with the camera range and dialogue determine the unit’s middle.

The group portrait is shown as it is formed in the uniform alignment of the soldiers’ bodies: The soldiers stand one behind the other in rank and file, the image takes in all members of the group in one frame as a geometric, unified formation with an implied central perspective. After this, each member of the squad is introduced in exactly the same manner. The shot/reverse shot principle makes the interplay of the dialogue between Sergeant Dane and the individual soldiers seem to be always the same. In these dialogues the soldiers’ varying backgrounds are particularly stressed and comical anecdotes or tics, highlighted by the close ups, characterize the individual habitus of each person. Names and respective accents in turn highlight their ethnic and cultural origins. After this section, the principle of the unity of different individuals is again conveyed in dense form and thus intensified:  The sudden sound of droning plane engines makes each soldier in the group – in a close up – look up to the sky in alarm. In this sequence of close ups of the different soldiers a repeated movement of looking up takes place. This brings together the differing faces through a uniform movement that is repeated in each shot. This scene is closed with a renewed unified group portrait with a highly geometric alignment.