Documentary Review: Steven Spielberg

Every time when you are about to sink, you are magically thrown with a life vest – this is the life of Steven Spielberg, one of the most powerful and influential filmmakers in the world. From a Jewish boy who felt shamed about himself, to a high school student who never won a satisfactory grade and to an ambitious, young film director who ran out of resources and ideas, Spielberg can be seen as a synonym of the word “legend.”

Producing his first film at the age of 12 and winning a film prize at 16, Spielberg’s genius in filmmaking was impressive enough to draw anyone’s attention. But his true film instinct was shown by how he spent his playtime as a little child – all his games were to do with making a story – as his sister recalled. In fact, interestingly, Spielberg’s story was never told by himself. The Biography of the History Channel interviewed so many people around this extraordinary filmmaker but Spielberg himself. It was this obvious absence of the number one character in this documentary that told the story, from multiple, rounded viewpoints.

Spielberg’s family members, including his parents and sister, are the best sources to explain where the many creative and well-known scenes in his films came from. For example, his sister remembered the image of a child being confronted with weird-colored sky and a monster when he opens the door was actually an episode of their childhood stories Spielberg created for their playtime.

From his colleagues’ points of view, who are prestigious film producers, stars and composers, Spielberg is someone who would always give people inspiration. The filmmaker’s legendary character was manifested by the same plot happened in different peoples’ lives – they all did not believe Spielberg’s talent until they met him at the first second – unexceptionally, everyone was intrigued by his creativity.

Photograph by Cynthia

It was these personal accounts and anecdotes that explained why Spielberg was able to survive after falling to the bottom from the top of a cliff and then climb higher again every time. For example, when Spielberg was shooting Jaws, he had no script, no shark and no crew. He ran out of time and resources. But surprisingly, just because of the lack of a satisfactory man-made shark, the film’s thrilling effect was even made more significant by only showing part of the shark. It was Spielberg’s passion and determination that predicted his great success.

Photograph by Cynthia

One of the most difficult tasks of producing a history documentary like Spielberg was to reconstruct the events of the past that were never recorded visually, but this documentary episode overcame the difficulty by skillfully using archival materials. Although actions that happened in the past can never be presented to the viewer as they were, the use of still photograph slideshows with special effects such as zooming and panning made the history alive and dynamic again. In order to prevent the dullness of the archival impression, the use of Spielberg’s film clips to accompany people’s recall and description adds great interest and pace to the documentary itself.

The filmmaker’s history answered the question posed at the beginning: The person who threw Spielberg a life vest when he was about to sink was nobody but himself.