Filmaker. In his time he was the Soviet Union's most famous documentarian and cameraman, celebrated for his striking images of revolution and strife around the world. Roman Lazarevich Karmen was born in Odessa. Starting out as a magazine photographer, he switched to cinematography and directed his first documentary, the short "Moscow", in 1933. He first won fame for his coverage of the Spanish Civil War, culminating in the feature-length "Spain" (1937). "In China" (released 1941) recorded the exploits of Mao's Red Army in Yenan and had a decisive effect on Soviet policy regarding that movement. During World War II Karmen's footage found its way into the Academy Award-winning "Moscow Strikes Back" (1943) and "Stalingrad" (1943) as well as his own compilation film "Days and Nights of Leningrad" (1943); he later recorded the Nuremburg Trials. "Vietnam" (1954) captured Ho Chi Minh's victory over the French while "Island of Flame" (1961) chronicled Fidel Castro's rise to power. His final feature, "Chile Happenings" (1973), sounded a note of protest over the fall of the Allende government. Since his death Karmen's metier and methods have been called into question. A lifelong Communist, he towed the party line and a propagandist intent lay behind his choices of subject matter and the manipulation of his material. He was not above recreating events for his camera. His omissions are equally notable: he steered clear of Stalin's purges, the Soviet invasions of Hungary and Czechoslovakia, and the horrors of Mao's Cultural Revolution. One American critic called him "the Soviet equivalent of Leni Riefenstahl". The continued controversy over Karmen's work goes to the heart of the nature of documentary filmaking.