Henri Storck lived through the whole history of cinema, passing from silent to sound, and from experimental to commercial films. He is recognised as a pioneer of Belgian cinema and a key figure in documentary. Misère au Borinage, which he co-directed with Joris Ivens in 1933, has become a classic of the ‘cinema of reality’ with which he was most closely associated.
EN
Misère au Borinage is a report, so to speak, it is not a written documentary, or a film made after a study of a subject matter, with a point of view. It is a very sincere and passionate statement because Joris and I were deeply moved by the living conditions and poverty of these people… We wanted to reveal how Dantesque, how infernal this working class world was, how they suffered unimaginable poverty, the degradation, the resignation, the revolt. We felt a sense of intimate participation in the life of these people, and were convinced that the document itself would suffice, that it would communicate its horrific significance to most audiences, which for the most part have no idea that such lives exist.”
Henri Storck1
“By its very essence, cinema is an art within the reach of the masses. And yet it has never been used to interest the masses in their own evolution, their own expression. On the contrary, up to the present time, cinema has only served to entertain them, put them to sleep, turn them away from their worries and problems. The worker is a character unknown to the screen… As for the value of a social document, most of the time even the most elementary expression of life is removed from them. During the creation of our film, one fact took on particular importance and would be hard to exaggerate: it is the quality of this material, a quality that can only come from direct contact with life, with daily existence.”
Joris Ivens and Henri Storck2
- 1Henri Storck, cited in G. Leroy Levin, Documentary Explorations: 15 Interviews with Filmmakers (New York: Double day, 1971).
- 2Joris Ivens and Henri Storck, cited in Revue belge du cinéma, Documents 34, nr. 4, January 1934. Translated on the website of Fondation Henri Storck.
