Les Dieux du Feu

An opera film without commentary dedicated to celebrating the manufacture of steel and the smelting furnaces. It makes the steelworks seem both grandiose and Dantesque, transforming them into an ode to work and the mastery of men. Storck films this industrial hell like some choreography for Titans. Each shot is full of tension: the slightest negligence could cause a catastrophe. The construction plays on the opposition of colors and work between the shop floor, reddish, huge, terrifying, and the control rooms, cold, bluish laboratories,
reserved for the engineers. The work is presented as a ceremonial with its gestures and the implacable progress towards its accomplishment: the workers put on their fire warrior breastplates, the molten steel boils in the infernal furnaces; the moulding, taming, laminating machines go into operation. The whole process of production is dramatized, the description of a process of production becomes that of a struggle and victory.
"A film made on request of the Belgian steelworkers to be shown to the huge crowds of the Exhibition in Brussels. It was necessary to get inside the factories and highlight the visual elements of a job that, at first glance, appears incomprehensible for the layman... The director had to take on a spectacular constraint: Cinemascope. Hardly any European professionals at the time had even used the format. What's more, the cameraman, André Bac, agreed to take part only if there were no camera movements... yet another constraint."

Jean Queval, , Belgian Festival,
November 1976
由比利时钢铁冶炼行业组织资助拍摄

影片简介:

这部歌剧电影没有解说词，却字里行间展现出对钢铁冶炼工艺的赞美。影片将炼钢流程的宏大场面展现得一览无余，把一道道冶炼工序合谱成一曲对工人们辛勤劳动和高超驾驭力的颂歌。在斯托克的摄影机下，这个工业的炼狱仿佛化身为泰坦巨人们的舞蹈，每一个镜头都充满张力。并告诉人们这样一个事实：在炼钢车间，任何细小的疏漏都可能会招来横祸。工人们炽烈红热的巨大车间，和工程师们幽蓝冷峻的控制机房，在色彩和节奏上形成强烈反差。影片立足于这种反差，将工业生产的流程比喻成一场仪式：工人们身着古代武士的防火护甲，钢水在熔炉中沸腾，机器设备各司其职。整个生产过程极富戏剧感染力，导演也藉此把这一过程描绘成一场经历斗争并取得最终胜利的战事。

"应比利时钢铁工人之邀而拍摄的一部影片，并将于布鲁塞尔展会期间向人们放映。影片要求拍摄人员进入工厂车间内部，抓住并展现属于这一工业的视觉元素，尽管乍看起来这些元素对于一个外行人可能是难以理解的... 导演不得不进行一项挑战，即采用宽银幕镜头拍摄，而在当时欧洲，几乎所有电影从业者都没有使用过这种模式。除此之外，摄像师André Bac只可以采用固定机位拍摄... 这也是另外的一个限制."

Jean Queval, <穿越电影的亨利斯托克>, 比利时电影节, 1976年11月号

In minute detail, the script of the film goes over the operations carried out by the teams of workers, foremen and metallurgical engineers in mastering and guiding the activity of these complex and powerful machines that are the equipment of steel working... The film ends by showing the main products and uses of steel... Another leitmotiv of the film is the fascinating sight of the teams, who show great solidarity in the accomplishment of this dangerous task carried
out according to strict instructions. Their constant vigilance and prompt reactions, supported by sharp eyes and quick judgement, are essential in order to control the fabulous machinery.""
在短短几分钟里，影片重现了钢铁冶炼过程中，工人和工程师们如何操控那些巨大，复杂，充满力量的机器设备来完成生产...影片结尾展示了钢铁制造业的主要成品以及钢铁的主要用途... 这部电影的另一个主题则是描绘工人团队在精确指令要求下完成危险工作时所展现出的精诚协作。和这些机器打交道，要求工人始终保持高度集中的精神和敏捷的反应，要想操控这些庞然大物，过人的眼力和判断力都是必不可少的。

4444(创建者)