The battleship Potemkin is a legendary film of 1925. What can you briefly tell about its plot? Firstly, the film takes place in June 1905. Secondly, its main characters are crew members of the famous battleship of the Imperial Black Sea Fleet. Eisenstein divided the plot into five acts, each with its own name.The components of Eisenstein’s film “The Battleship Potemkin” will be discussed later.
Act I: Men and Worms
The scene begins with two sailors, Matyushenko and Vakulenchuk, discussing the need to support the Potemkin team to implement the revolution taking place in Russia. While the Potemkin is anchored off the island of Tendra, idle sailors sleep in bunks. When an officer inspects the cabins, he stumbles and splashes out his aggression on the sleeping sailor. The noise causes Vakulenchuk to awaken, and he delivers a speech in front of the men when they arrive. Vakulenchuk says: “Comrades! The time has come when we must also speak out. Why wait? All of Russia has risen! Should we be the last? ” The scene ends in the morning above the deck, where the sailors are indignant because of the poor quality of meat intended for feeding the crew. The meat seems rotten and covered with worms, and sailors say that even a dog will not eat it. With this domestic conflict, the plot of the film "Battleship" Potemkin "and begins to gain momentum.
The ship's doctor Smirnov called by the captain to inspect the meat. Regarding the presence of worms in food, the doctor says that they can be washed off safely before cooking. Sailors also complain about the poor quality of the diet, but the doctor declares the meat edible and concludes the discussion. Senior officer Gilyarovsky forces the sailors, who are still considering rotten meat, to leave the kitchen, and the cook begins to cook borsch, although he once again questions the quality of the products. The crew refuses to eat borsch, instead choosing bread, water and canned food. While cleaning the dishes, one of the sailors sees on the plate an inscription that says: "Give us our daily bread today." After clarifying the meaning of this phrase, the sailor breaks the plate, and the scene ends.
Act II: rebellion on a ship
All those who refuse meat are found guilty of disobedience and sentenced to death, after which they are allowed to pray. Sailors are required to kneel, and they are being prepared for execution right on the deck. The first officer gives the order to start the execution, but in response to his requests, the sailors in the firing squad lower their rifles and begin an uprising. Sailors suppress the numerical superiority of officers and seize control of the ship. Officers are thrown overboard, the priest is pulled out of the shelter, in which he hides from the rebellious crowd, and the doctors are sent to the ocean as food for worms. The rebellion can be considered successful despite the fact that the charismatic leader Vakulenchuk dies during the uprising.
Act III: Odessa Revolution
The battleship "Potemkin" arrives in Odessa. The body of Vakulenchuk is carried ashore and declared to be a martyr for freedom. Odessans, saddened, but encouraged by the sacrifice of Vakulenchuk, soon agreed that they all shared the discontent of the king and his government. A man associated with the government is trying to turn civilian fury against the Jews, but people quickly boo and beat him. The sailors gather to commemorate Vakulenchuk, and declare him the hero of the coming revolution. Odessans support sailors, but their behavior attracts the attention of the police.
Act IV: The Slaughter on the Stairs
In this act, the most famous scene of the film takes place, taking place on the Potemkin Stairs (in honor of which it got its name). Part of the inhabitants of Odessa goes on their ships and boats to the battleship to support the sailors and donate supplies. Another part of the inhabitants gathers at the Potemkin Stairs to support the rebels and repel the police attack.
Suddenly, a detachment of arriving Cossacks forms battle columns at the top of the steps and goes to a crowd of unarmed citizens, including women and children, and starts firing, monotonously descending along the stairs. From time to time, soldiers stop to make another volley in the crowd before continuing their cold, lifeless and surreal march. Meanwhile, government cavalry attack the running crowd at the foot of the stairs, killing many of those who survived the first attack. Short scenes show those fleeing from attackers, as well as those killed and injured. The most famous of these scenes is a rolling stroller along the Potemkin stairs, a shot in the face of a woman, smashing glasses, as well as high boots of soldiers moving in unison.
In revenge, the Potemkin sailors decide to use the armadillo’s guns to shoot at the city opera house, where tsarist military leaders convene a meeting. Meanwhile, there is news that the armada of warships was sent to Odessa to crush the uprising on the battleship Potemkin.
Act V: Moral Victory
The sailors decide to withdraw the battleship from Odessa to face off against the tsar’s fleet. At a time when a battle seems inevitable, the sailors of the royal squadron refuse to open fire, cheering and shouting, expressing solidarity with the rebels and allowing the Potemkin to pass between their ships under the red flag. The end.
How the legend was created
The story of the creation of the film Battleship Potemkin is complex and remarkable in its own way. On the 20th anniversary of the first Russian revolution, the CEC commission decided to stage a series of performances dedicated to the events of 1905. In addition, a grandiose film was shown as part of the celebration. programs with a luxurious oratorical introduction, as well as musical and dramatic accompaniment.Nina Agadzhanova was asked to write a script, and the direction of the painting was entrusted to 27-year-old Sergey Eisenstein. He had to highlight a number of episodes that were not directly related to the revolution of 1905: the Russo-Japanese war, the Armenian genocide, events in St. Petersburg, the uprising in Moscow.The shooting was supposed to take place in a number of cities in the USSR Eisenstein hired many non-professional actors for the film. certain types instead of famous stars.
Script Recycling
Filming of the film "Battleship Potemkin" began on March 31, 1925. The director began with Leningrad and managed to complete the episode with a strike on the railway and Sadovaya Street. Then the filming temporarily stopped due to worsening weather and fog. At the same time, the director was faced with a tight time frame: the film was supposed to be completed by the end of the year, although the script was approved only on June 4. Objectively assessing the situation, Sergei Eisenstein decided to abandon the original plan, consisting of eight episodes, in order to focus on only one. It was an uprising on the battleship Potemkin, which in a huge script by Agadzhanova took only a few pages (41 frames). Sergei Eisenstein, together with Grigory Alexandrov, substantially reworked and expanded the episode.
In addition, in the process of creating the film, some scenes were added that were not provided for either by Agadzhanova’s plan, or by Eisenstein’s outline. Among them, in particular, there was an episode with a storm with which the film begins. As a result, the content of the tape was very far from the original script of Agadzhanova. In 1925, after selling the negatives of the film to Germany and re-released by director Phil Yutsi, the film Battleship Potemkin (1925) was released internationally in a version different from the one originally planned. The attempt to execute the sailors was carried over from the beginning to the end The film was later censored, for example, the words of Leon Trotsky in the prologue were replaced by a quote from Lenin.
Artistic features and cultural influence
Eisenstein originally conceived the film as revolutionary and propaganda, but also used it to test his theories regarding editing. Soviet cinematographers of the Kuleshov school of film production experimented with the effect of editing the film on the audience, and Eisenstein tried to edit the tape in such a way as to evoke the greatest possible emotional response. He wanted the viewer to feel sympathy for the rebellious sailors of the battleship and hatred of the royal regime. And he succeeded. Eisenstein’s tape “The Battleship“ Potemkin ”was the first mass propaganda film in the history of cinema. And this was noticed by many people who happened to see the film.
"Battleship" Potemkin "": reviews and ratings of contemporaries
Eisenstein’s cinematic experiment was a mixed success. The director was disappointed that the film failed to attract a wide audience, although he was positively received abroad.
Both in the Soviet Union and abroad, the film shocked the audience, but not so much with political implications as with realistic portrayals of violence, which was rare in films of the time. The potential of this masterpiece in terms of influencing political thought through an emotional response was noted by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, who called the film amazing and unrivaled in the movie. He believed that anyone who did not have a strong political conviction could become a Bolshevik after watching this picture. He was even interested in the Germans making a similar film. Eisenstein did not like this idea, and he wrote an indignant letter to Goebbels in which he stated that National Socialist Realism could not boast of either truth or realism. The film was not banned in Nazi Germany, although Himmler issued a directive prohibiting SS members from attending shows, as he found the picture unsuitable for this type of army. In the end, the film was banned in the United States and France, and later in the native Soviet Union. The film by Sergei Eisenstein "The Battleship" Potemkin "was banned in the UK longer than any other tape in the history of this country.
Modern viewers also evaluate the picture very positively, although only inveterate movie fans admire it.
Legendary scene
One of the most famous scenes in the film is the massacre of civilians on the Odessa steps (which are now known as the Potemkin Stairs). This scene was recognized as a cult and one of the most influential in the history of cinema. The ranks of the policemen, monotonously marching up the stairs, are terrifying, as are their salvos on civilians. Among the victims of the tsarist police are an elderly woman in a pince-nez, a young boy with his mother, a student in uniform and a teenage schoolgirl. A mother pushing an infant in a pram falls to the ground, dying, and the pram rolls down the stairs in the midst of a fleeing crowd.
Eisenstein’s film “The Battleship Potemkin” was the bloodiest ribbon of its time. The massacre on the steps, although it never happened in reality, had a real historical foundation, like the whole film. In fact, in 1905, despite the massive demonstrations of the townspeople, there were no killings of Odessa residents. Nevertheless, the scene turned out to be so powerful and influential that many people are still convinced that the shooting on the Potemkin stairs is a historical fact. The staircase got its name in honor of Eisenstein’s film “Bronen Seedling "Potemkin".
Actors
The role of Vakulenchuk, the charming leader of the rebellious sailors, was played by Alexander Antonov, Honored Artist of the RSFSR. Other leading roles - commander Golikov and lieutenant Gilyarovsky - were played by Vladimir Barsky and Grigory Alexandrov, respectively. However, the roles of most of the characters present in the film "Battleship" Potemkin "(1905), non-professional actors were approved.