Battleship Potemkin
Seems like I have been going on and on about movies the past weeks, I guess thats how I roll. I tend to switch gears once every few weeks and keep my brain fresh and free from monotony.
I have been not writing much about biking simply because I have not been riding much. My commute has been rudely disrupted due to some security policy at work. Someone thought that Locker rooms and showers need ‘Security’. WTF is someone going to steal? A dirty Jock? Gym Sock? Smelly boots? Oh well. Another reason why I think some policy makers are retarded. Anyhow, I am working on my backup plan and should be regularly on the saddle soon.
Ah, rant aside, let me get back to the movie. I kind of Like silent films. I also enjoy movies that cross the line in terms of social acceptance. Controversial movies, I dig. May be just to see how it fits into the historical context. It is usually interesting that after a decade or so, the controversies look so tame that one questions what the big deal was all about.
Battleship Potemkin is a Russian Propaganda film and a marketing vehicle to promote the revolution in the 1920′s. It is a stylized reproduction of the real mutiny on the Battleship Potemkin in 1905. Though cinema was at its infancy, it seems like some people had a very clear idea of its appeal and its ability to convey messages and used it to good effect (Fritz Lang’s classic, The testament of Dr. Mabuse comes to mind). As is goes with propaganda films, the presentation is essentially one sided. The anti-aristo’s and anti-religious campaign is pretty much the central theme. Characters are merely caricatures to the point of looking comical. At some point, we see Vakulinchuk (incidentally, a real life revolutionary) sitting on a turret with legs straddled and another cadet cleaning out the cannon’s barrel which seems like an enormous setup to say that the workers are being F#cked about.
All the propaganda and innuendo’s aside, the movie is pretty brilliant. What I like about early movies (before use of mobile cameras) is the fact that most shots are still (only editing creates action). The director and cinematographer is forced to think very carefully about composition. It is almost like a still image with some motion (which is also carefully controlled). On board the Potemkin, the overpowering imagery is of the cannons, in an attempt to show that violent protest is the only resort to overthrow the czar and his cossacks.
The only time the camera moves about is during the pivotal “Odessa steps” sequence. The entire sequence is brilliant, the violence is pretty much over the top even by today’s standards. There were numerous shots showing closeups of insignia, clothing, emblems etc… the significance of them elude me. I wish I had better understanding of the politics of the time. Another innovation it seems to me is the hand-coloring of the flag that the revolutionaries raise on Potemkin. Red flag being the only color in the movie and is striking. Makes me look at Schindler’s List and go, hmmm so that’s where Spielberg got it from. Coloring film is a old technique but used very effectively for the flag sequence…
The film is filled with almost still shots of iconic imagery. The raising cannons, people sitting on the turrets, the flag raising sequence, close up shot of the various characters etc… I mean, I look at it as a photo montage set to mild motion and a powerful sound track. The sound track (supposedly remastered for the DVD) pretty much gets the movie going.
An impressive movie that is worth watching if you are interested in either Russian or Cinema history and it is just lasts over an hour.
And Incidentally, I cracked the puzzle that has been haunting me a while. There were numerous cities in Russia where there are places / streets / stations that are called 1905. I figured it to be reference to a year but never know what that meant. Now I know, it is the year that technically a mass upraising started and hence the official start of the Russian revolution and it all started with the Potemkin.
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