Before Jean-Luc Godard revolutionized cinema with “Breathless,” his career began not on the boulevards of Paris, but on a massive construction site in the Swiss Alps. The story of his first film, “Operation Concrete,” is as remarkable as the structure it documents.
In the early 1950s, a young Godard found himself laboring on the Grande Dixence dam project, a monumental undertaking that would become Europe’s tallest dam. This remote assignment came at a pivotal moment, following a troubled period marked by personal struggles and legal troubles that had strained family relations.
The harsh environment of the construction site, where workers battled extreme cold that prevented concrete from setting for much of the year, became an unlikely training ground. Godard secured access to a camera and began documenting the epic scale of the engineering feat, framing it as both a promotional piece and a personal project.
The resulting film reveals early glimpses of what would become Godard’s signature style. Rather than following conventional documentary formats, “Operation Concrete” employs dynamic camera movements that emphasize the sheer scale of the machinery and human endeavor. The film blends poetic imagery with factual exposition, showing clear influences from Soviet filmmakers while establishing Godard’s own distinctive voice.
A personal tragedy during production added profound context to the project. Following his mother’s sudden death in a traffic accident, Godard worked intensively to complete the film, collaborating unexpectedly with his mother’s companion on the screenplay. The completed work served as both a professional debut and a personal turning point.
The financial compensation from “Operation Concrete” provided the means for Godard to leave his position at the dam and return to Geneva, where he immediately began work on his next cinematic project. Though he would never make another formal documentary, the experience fundamentally shaped his approach to filmmaking, informing his later use of real locations, non-professional actors, and journalistic techniques.
The dam construction, originally seen as a form of exile, ultimately provided the foundation for one of cinema’s most influential careers. In documenting the transformation of a landscape through concrete and human labor, Godard simultaneously engineered his own transformation from laborer to filmmaker.
