Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography (1992)

Movies are meant to be looked at as well as listened to; images are as important to cinematic storytelling as dialogue. The cinematographer, or cameraman, is the key to this process, using his craft to further the director's vision and, at times, his own. Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography, produced by the American Film Institute, is a feature-length documentary that intercuts clips from 125 movies with interviews of famous cameramen.

It begins with early newsreels and the pioneering work of D.W. Griffith's cameraman, Billy Bitzer (The Birth of a Nation). The beauty of the black-and-white images of the silent era are a revelation, reminding us of what may have been lost in the switch to color. Also enlightening is the juxtaposition of the work of more recent masters, like Gordon Willis (The Godfather), Conrad Hall (In Cold Blood) and William Fraker (Rosemary's Baby), with their comments upon it. This documentary may change the way you look at movies.

Man of Marble (1977)

The evils of communism are too quickly forgotten. After the gulags and the arbitrary secret-police arrests, one of the system's most reprehensible characteristics was the methodical promotion of lies that glorified its ideology. An example is the myth of the heroic worker, an icon of Stalinist propaganda. Man of Marble uses the narrative techniques of Citizen Kane to uncover the truth behind a statue erected to honor such a figure.

A young female film student (Krystyna Janda) sets out to make a documentary about a bricklayer (Jerzy Radziwilowicz) whom the communist regime has turned into a celebrity because of his skills as a craftsman and his dedication to communist ideology. Through interviews with his family and friends, the film student learns how the laborer tried to use his fame to help fellow workers. This deviation from the party line enraged the government, which turned against him. Director Andrzej Wajda (Ashes and Diamonds) creates a satiric indictment of Polish communism that, when released, foreshadowed the rise of the Solidarity movement.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Pope John Paul II has always asserted the dignity of the human person and his primacy over all ideological and technological systems. He finds an unlikely ally in the science-fiction classic 2001: A Space Odyssey, one of the Vatican's top 45 films. The action begins 4 million years ago. A clan of apes discovers a mysterious, black, rectangular monolith that brings about a change in their consciousness. Flash-forward to the year 2001, when some scientists discover a similar monolith with deadly electronic sound waves. Writer-director Stanley Kubrick (Clockwork Orange) suggests that mankind's advances come from this kind of extra-terrestrial intervention. It's not Christian cosmology, but his view of man's prideful, self-centered behavior encompasses an understanding of original sin.

The story moves to a Jupiter space mission during which an all-powerful computer named HAL fights for control of the spacecraft with its human navigators (Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood). The movie's message about the human person is more relevant today than when first released.

Arts and Culture Correspondent John Prizer writes from Los Angeles.