Buba (1930) is a weirdly beautiful mountain trip

If you have forty minutes and want to feel like you’re trapped in a very pretty, very cold cloud, watch this. Buba is a silent documentary from 1930, and it’s the kind of thing you watch when you're tired of movies where people talk too much.

It’s great for anyone who likes looking at old black-and-white textures or people who enjoy *slow* cinema. If you need a plot or characters you can actually follow, you will probably hate this and turn it off after five minutes.

I found myself watching this because I was originally looking for something like The Power of Evil but ended up down a rabbit hole of Georgian history. Nutsa Gogoberidze directed this, and she was the first woman to direct in Georgia, which is a neat fact even if it doesn't change how the movie looks.

The whole thing takes place in the Svaneti mountains. It starts with these massive, heavy clouds rolling over peaks that look like they could kill you just by looking at them.

There isn't really a story, just a bunch of moments. You see people cutting hay on slopes so steep it looks like they might fall off the earth at any second.

The camera spends a lot of time on faces. Old men with beards that look like they’ve never seen a comb and kids who stare at the lens like it’s a magical object from space.

One scene that stuck with me involves a sick person being treated with some kind of traditional ritual. It’s dark and cramped inside the hut, and the light hits the dust in the air in a way that feels accidental but perfect.

The film is split between the "old ways" and the "new ways." The first half is all about the struggle of living in the middle of nowhere with just rocks and goats.

It reminded me a bit of the ruggedness in Strange Cargo, though obviously that's a completely different kind of movie. Here, the struggle isn't about escaping a prison; it's just about existing on a mountain.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Buba (1930) through its definitive frames.

Then the Soviet influence kicks in. You start seeing planes flying over the mountains and people building roads.

The tone shifts from being poetic to being a bit like a commercial for progress. It’s less interesting when the tractors show up, honestly.

The clouds are the real stars of the show. I don't think I've ever seen a movie that captures the way mist moves through trees better than this one did in 1930.

I think I saw a goat in one shot that looked more confused than I was during the first ten minutes. It just stood there while the wind whipped its fur around.

The editing is a bit jumpy. Sometimes it cuts from a beautiful landscape to a close-up of a tool so fast it gives you a tiny bit of whiplash.

It’s a lot shorter than something like Michael, which is a relief because I don't know if I could handle two hours of mountain mist. But for forty minutes, it’s a nice vibe.

I kept thinking about how hard it must have been to carry those heavy cameras up those trails. There are no smooth drone shots here; everything feels heavy and grounded.

At one point, there’s a shot of a bridge that looks like it’s held together by luck and maybe two pieces of string. It made my feet tingle just looking at it.

If you're in the mood for something light, maybe go watch Henpecked instead. This isn't exactly a fun time, but it’s a moody time.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Buba (1930) through its definitive frames.

Things I noticed while watching:

• The way the shadows fall across the stone towers is incredibly spooky.
• There is a lot of wood chopping. Like, a lot.
• The music (in the version I saw) was kind of distracting, so I turned it down and just watched it in silence.
• Some of the kids look like they’ve seen things no child should see.

The ending gets very "industrial." There’s a plane that looks like a tiny toy against the massive mountains.

It’s supposed to be hopeful, I think. But I kind of missed the quiet, miserable beauty of the first half once the machines arrived.

I felt a bit like I was watching Station Content for a second, just in terms of that old, flickering film quality that makes everything look like a ghost story. 📽️

Is it a masterpiece? I don't know. People who write textbooks probably say so.

I just thought it was a cool look at a place that doesn't really exist like that anymore. It’s like a moving photo album from a dream someone had about Georgia.

I’d put it on in the background while doing something else, but then you’d miss the way the light hits the scythes during the harvest. So maybe just sit down and stare at it.

It’s definitely better than Fighting Bill if you’re looking for art, though maybe less exciting if you want action. It’s just... Buba.

"The mountain doesn't care if you're filming it, and this movie feels like that."

The scariest part isn't the height, it's the silence. Even without sound, you can feel how quiet it must have been up there before the planes came.

I'm glad I watched it, but I don't think I'll watch it again for a long time. It’s a lot to take in, even for a short film.

If you're bored of the usual stuff like Being Respectable or old comedies like Por fin se casa Zamora, give this a spin. It’s different. 🏔️