The Battleship Potemkin - The Bell Jar PDF

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The Battleship Potemkin...

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Guide to... BATLLESHIP POTEMKIN (1925)

This Soviet film is both impressive and a landmark in cinema history What’s it about? Russian director Sergei Eisenstein’s glorified dramatisation of the 1905 rebellion has often been hailed the greatest silent film ever made. After the Potemkin sailors are given rotten meat to eat, they rise up against their cruel officers. This inspires the people of Odessa to follow them, in a failed attempt to overthrow the royal government which prefigured the more famous Russian Revolution of 1917. It’s pure, unashamed propaganda, but is also a true landmark in cinematic history. It invented a new energetic editing style for maximum emotional impact, and has an eye for the spectacular which has rarely, if ever, been matched since. Who made it? Director, Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (1898 – 1948) is often called the “Father of Montage” for the extremely influential editing method he pioneered. The film has no celebrity stars. Instead, in line with Soviet political ideas, it celebrates of collective masses working together. Soviet filmmaker Grigori Aleksandrov (1903 – 1983), who co-directed October: Ten Days That Shook The World with Eisenstein, plays a chief officer, and Eisenstein himself appears as an Odessa citizen. Backstory Like his previous film Strike, Eisenstein made this film as revolutionary propaganda for Russia’s new communist leadership, which was demanding movies celebrating ordinary workers. Eisenstein was experimenting with the then-new cinema medium with other Soviet filmmakers, and here tested his ideas about editing to create the most sympathy he could for the rebellious sailors.

The production The film was shot in Ukraine (then part of the Soviet empire) on the Black Sea coast and in Odessa, where the historical uprising occurred. A classical music score by Edmund Meisel accompanied the film for its 1926 Berlin premiere. Meisel repeated sections of the score due to only getting twelve days to compose it because film censors’ approval came so late. Eisenstein hoped the score would be rewritten every 20 years to stay relevant. The reviews “If you are at all interested in the history of cinema, or the influence of 20th century politics on the medium, then this film is a must-see.” Nick Hilditch, BBC, 2001 “It’s almost impossible to watch Potemkin and not be thrilled by its vigour.” Richard Corliss, Time Magazine, 2007 Look out for… The scene in which hundreds of citizens of Odessa are massacred on a massive stone staircase by the Tsar’s troops is one of the most famous scenes in movie history. Especially watch for the careering baby carriage, which has featured in numerous parodies since. Though soldiers did fire on the crowds the massacre on the steps never took place, but Eisenstein’s scene had such a powerful effect it’s often talked about now like it really happened. What happened next? Eisenstein’s experiments in powerfully emotional propaganda worked - Germany’s Nazi party prohibited troops from attending screenings, and the film was banned in the UK until 1954, due to fears it would cause the working classes to riot. After this influential classic, Eisenstein went on to make October and the historical epics Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible, but Battleship Potemkin remains his most famous work. Talking points • The film is a famous example of political propaganda. In what ways does Eisenstein make us sympathise with the sailors? • Does its lack of dialogue make it hard to watch? What other methods does Eisenstein use to express what’s happening? • Eisenstein wanted the music score to be rewritten every 20 years – what music would you choose for the film today? Review starters Like any effective propaganda, Battleship Potemkin is emotionally powerful- but very black-and-white… What we think A landmark moment in movie history, Eisenstein’s experiment in propaganda shows film’s power to evoke strong emotion, even without the latest tech effects....