Oil topic in Azerbaijan cinema requires a separate research. Blazing oil gushers make marvelous cinematographic material. No one can deny that. As a medium, only cinema can capture the thick oil stream bursting forth like a fiery monster. Only cinema can display such an awesome inferno in its terrifying beauty and majesty. The best success in this field goes by the name of Roman Karmen and his full-length documentary films "A Story about Caspian Oil Workers" (1953) and "Conquerors of the Sea" (1959).

Karmen, Roman Lazarevich (1906-1978) was born to the family of Lazar Karmen in Odessa.   Karmen graduated from the camera operation department of the State Institute of Cinematography in 1931. He had worked at the Central Studio for Documentary Films and shot numerous documentary films since then. He won the USSR State Prize three times (1942, 1947, 1952) and the Lenin Prize (1960). He was the People's Artist of the USSR (1966) and was awarded five orders and various medals. "Story of the Caspian Oil Workers" (1953; script-writer N. Osipov, I. .Gasimov, R. Karmen, A. Zenyagin, S. Medinski, underwater cameraman F. Leontovich, composer Q. Qarayev, sound engineer A. Karimov) was based on the literary essay "Island of Seven Ships" by N. Osipov  written in 1951. Main facts of the scenario had been kept, but the author had made some changes to the scenario due to which he could focus on speedy development that occurred in the sea oil field. Too many episodes that hadn't been included in the scenario were shot and consequently the descriptive material of the film was enriched. Though the main topic of the film was oil, the plotline demonstrated the heroic deeds of Azerbaijani sea oilmen, their searches, innovative and creative acts and inspiration. The heroes of the film were successful in their fighting with the nature.  

R. Karmen started his shooting with Baku scenery and continued it in an island in the Caspian Sea. Oil searches, held by Mikhail Kaverochkin's crew, the oil hero of the 50s (brigade) and their concerns were the main points of the later episodes. R. Karmen who masterly created the views of the path that the Oil Rocks had passed for four years since 1948 wrote: "... recollection of certain moments of the events gives opportunity of extending the scope of the shot. We must be careful; recollection of the facts shouldn't distract our attention from the real mastery the of film chronic and cinema reporting... I went on by precise recollecting of the facts. We picked attentively up the people in line with the chronicle material. All the people, materials are the same up to minuscule details."        

R. Karmen masterly forced the oil workers to replay the actions that they had made in the past. Just because of the producer and the operators' proficiency the recollection of the facts were screened in a correct and convincing manner.  

R. Karmen could masterly create the atmosphere of the first expectation of the oil fountain and the oil workers' secret anxiety. He screened the image of a creative man, the pathos of his beauty of labour through specific details. Unity of romanticism and simplicity was expressed with all its shades in the heroes' images.    

Convincing - the main factor of documentary cinematography was also fully expressed in the film.  The cinematographers and the oil-workers lived together for a long time; they became so familiar with each other, therefore the film turned out very sincere and convincing.

Success of "A Story about Caspian Oil Workers" is connected with other components of the film - music, sound record, the reading of a speaker's text, etc. The speaker (L. Xmara) conveys the expressiveness and the figurativeness of the text to the audience jointly with descriptive images. G. Garayev's  brilliant music with its dramatism helps to demonstrate the emotional content of the film. R. Behbudov's song about the oil workers completes the images. A. Karimov and A. Minchenko, camera operators' professionalism contributed to create a natural sounding environment. Capacity and laconism of episodes, distinctness and completeness of compositions are among main successes of the film. This film as a successful example of the Soviet documentary film was demonstrated around the world.

R. Karmen's parted with Khazar oil workers with an art triumph and he didn't think of giving up this lovely topic. He dreamt of continuing the work that he had started many years ago.  İn 1958 the film director arrived in Baku with the same team (This time the scenario was written by R. Karmen and I. Gasimov; cameramen A. Zenyagin and F. Leontovich didn't come, Mammad Alili was included in the team). Oil Rocks grew into a sea city within 6 years: beautiful streets, shops, sports grounds, post telegraph offices reminded them Baku. It was winter, but the work was still continued in oil-fields. Due to the start of a storm, the work was closed down. Oil workers were in hand-to-hand fighting with nature. All these sceneries are an ordinary life of a rare oil city. The generation of new oil workers continued the work of the first oil surveyors. This documentary, directed by Roman Karmen, glorified the workers' courage to extract oil from the open sea.

The new film Conquerors of the Sea was a pathetic requiem for the late heroes. The heroes of the film were not individuals, but a great number of Oil Rock inhabitants. The filmmakers could shoot the daily life of the sea city with successful details, could convey the audience the elements of humour along with the progress of a dramatic situation. Personal attitudes towards the life events gave the producer and cameraman the possibility of shooting rich episodes with sincere feelings. The episodes shot by J. Mammadov and S. Medinski with high professionalism were convincing and the most watchable. One of the aspects of R. Karmen's creative features - accuracy and richness of life observations - is clearly seen in the film Conquerors of the Sea. The cameramen working with him and realizing his ideas could 'catch' the most touching points in each character and create a gallery of bright and original portraits.   

Conquerors of the Sea was demonstrated at the decade of Azerbaijan Literature and Art in Moscow in 1959 and was welcomed.

Roman Carmen with the films about the real life, bright and unforgettable portraits of sea oilmen occupies a decent place in the history of documentary cinema.

Nariman Abdulrahmanlı