A true Masterpiece from Eisentstein

Rating: 10/10 (5 October 2003)

Battleship Potemkin is a celluloid masterpiece. The direction of
Eisenstein is truly a sight. The film chronicles a ship of disgruntled
sailors who are tired of being mistreated by their superior officers.
Eventually, the sailors finally have enough of the abuse and send the
officers packing. During this time period, there was a shortage of film
stock in the Soviet Union. The goverment wanted to get their message
out to the people so they started a National Film Company and one of
the members was Sergei Eisenstein. The films were shot on miniscule
budgets and the shortage of film stock forced Eisentein to be careful
and selective with the footage that he shot. In the end, Eisenstein had
to reuse footage in order to make a feature length picture.
The most famous of the action set pieces in this film is the much
talked about massacre on the steps. This scene was spoofed in Bananas
and most recently in Brian De Palma's The Untouchables. If you want to
learn film-making, I strongly advise you to watch Battleship Potemkin.
It's one of the essentials.
A+