Dynamic Masterpiece

Rating: Null/10 (9 December 2016)

It's sixty-six minutes of perhaps the most arresting imagery in movie history, also one of the most dynamic. Every shot includes movement of some kind, whether people, smoke, guns, or the prow of history overtaking us. There's no scene of focal conversation, let alone silent talk. Thus politics of revolt remain largely unregistered. Instead the symbolism of rotten meat force-fed to sailors sums up crumbling Tsarist rule. The revolt is told in compelling movement, crowds rushing to and fro, Tsarist forces ahead or behind. One after another, the human wave cascades, with hardly time to breathe. Surely, the Odessa Steps is one of the most memorable in all moviedom; at the same time, a common humanity is deepened-- the dead baby, the shattered eyeglasses. Yes, the 1905 revolt failed. But seed was planted taking down Tsarist rule but ten years later. No need to go on—the film's brilliance is there for all to see, and remains so though not a word is spoken. It's Eisenstein's masterpiece, an enduring one-of-a-kind.