Let it “Rain”

Regen (Rain) by Joris Ivens is an interesting poetic film that uses music and imagery to emphasize the significance of the rain itself in the busy lives of city people. The film begins off with an establishing shot of rooftops and houses prior to the rain. The music here has a slow, but lively tempo, while scenes of still water, tall buildings, and boats of all sorts flash by. The images jump from one to another, without any real coherence or understanding if they relate to one another or not. As the film continues, a shot from above portrays people below walking in the street, going about their day as normal–all the while, the music continues in the same manner. Then, the camera begins to shoot things blowing in the wind; a flag on the side of a building, the leaves and branches of the tree swaying in the breeze. And the music abruptly changes, and the rain begins to fall. The change is not so dramatic, for the style of the music remains lively, but the tempo picks up, as if in an effort to mimic the sound of the rain. This whimsical music creates even more life in the rain than it did prior to it. As the rain continues, the camera takes close-ups of the rain making ripples in the water, the rain flowing off rooftops and down the sides of the windows, and shots of people continuing with umbrellas in the downpour. We see close-ups of tires driving through puddles, the rain splattering on the ground, and the tops of many umbrellas with people hidden underneath. The rain continues, and life on the streets continue, along with the life in the music. As the storm continues, however, we begin to see more empty streets, and less black umbrellas. The music then begins to slow, as does the rain, and the same gentle music from the beginning resumes. The rain is over. People begin to come out without umbrellas and go about life as if nothing had happen.

In this film, Ivens is emphasizing the rain in many different lights through the different shots. By shooting the water, it is easier to see how the intensity of the rain picks up and dwindles as the film progresses, as with the puddles on the streets and the rain splattering on the windows. The amount of people in the shots diminish as the time goes on, and eventually barely anyone is out in the rain. And lastly, the music changes during the rain. All of these have meaning that also go beyond the rain itself. In my communications class, Intro to Media and Technologies, we talked about how this film could be viewed as documenting the life of the people in the rain, and that it also reflects life itself–it is slow in the beginning, then life picks up and is a little chaotic and hard in the middle, and when old age comes, it slows down again. I agree with both views, but I also saw the film showing a different understanding of life through the images. The rain has no care about the effects it has on the people or the environment, it is just a natural occurrence that happens regardless. Life, similarly, happens once a child is born, and afterwards life just happens regardless of how you want it to be–life is not fair. Although that seems totally depressing, it is not for the film also shows the people in the rain, going about as if nothing is going on. They play the cards they are dealt to the best of their advantage, and rather than let something stop them, they continue going about, only this time they have their umbrellas to help them. In this sense, life isn’t fair, but who cares–as long as you are capable of dealing with the changes and the unfairness, then life will continue as if the rain had never existed. It may not be a correct interpretation, but all in all I think is worth expressing. Rain was definitely a different style of film that I am not normally used to, but the multiple messages and interpretations this poetic film expresses makes it well worth viewing.