La vague

La vague (1891)

Etienne-Hules Marey is a name forgotten by most but this is one of the earliest examples of a movie from France. This clocks in at only a few seconds and what we see is a wave hitting some rocks.

If you're watching a movie from 1891 you really can't expect to judge it the same way you would something from 1991. The film certainly doesn't contain anything ground-breaking but I can't help but get chills when I watch these early examples of cinema. Just knowing that this footage is among the very first ever recorded gives it a bit of history that is just fascinating and you can't help but wonder what it would have been like seeing it when it was first made.