Life of a Modern Day Knife Maker

Life of a Modern Day Knife Maker

http://vimeo.com/31455885

(I can't get it to embed properly, whatever.)

I found this video a while ago while on a tech blog I frequent. It stood out to me because they don’t often post artsy things, but the other times they have I’ve enjoyed them (they had another documentary about a man that makes hand-blown glass eye replacements).

 I really liked the man’s change he underwent, and how he compared himself to the knives he makes. He talks about how he underwent a big change in his life because of suffering rejection, and how this tempered him into something stronger and more resilient.

This story is especially captivating as a film because while we listen to him tell his story, we simultaneously get to watch him make his knives. I have never seen knives made in such great detail, but as a man I am obviously greatly invested in the idea. I also like the use of black and white. It takes the viewer’s attention off of everything distracting and draws the eye right to the action—his crafting the knives.

The subject is a writer. He is very well spoken and understands the creative process and storytelling. I think this helped influence how he told his story. Listening to him talk is captivating because of his manner of speech, something about his cadence just captivates me.

This story makes excellent use of film because not only do we get to see the rugged man with the delicate hands and a talent for knife-making, but we also get to watch his craft. We get to see what he creates and it really is beautiful. Even if you don’t know anything about cooking knives you look at what he makes and you know it is well done.

I think this film wants the audience to recognize and appreciate hand-made, quality items. The series is called Made by Hand and it talks about other people who do similar things. I think they also wanted the audience to appreciate good old American hard work.