Lets Connect the Pieces.

Montage. A simple word that is too important to dismiss as part of a film. Because the film would not be a film without it.

Wikipedia definition: "Montage pron.: /mɒnˈtɑːʒ/ is a technique in film editing in which a series of short shots are edited into a sequence to condense space, time, and information."

As we watch a movie, the story is told not only by plot itself, but by us the viewer who makes the connections with intended shots, which are part of the montage. Images and shots are juxtaposed within  space and time to connect the story. An example from the Russian filmmaker, Sergei Eisenstein, is the shot of a widow grieving at a grave and someone on the side making positive comments of hope of other partners she can have. She still continues to cry, which a viewer can figure out that the person dead was a man/partner who she really loved and loved her. We also connect that the observer is providing sympathy for her, because the loss of a loved one is very tragic. It smashes two pieces/meanings into one.

Based on Eisenstein's words..... the success of montage is expressing the whole...and not the sum of its parts.