Crucial Part of Film History

Rating: Null/10 (19 September 2004)

Sergei Eisenstein's "The Battleship Potemkin" is one of the most important works in film history. Set in 1905 it tells of a mutiny aboard a Russian naval vessel. It is very obviously propaganda but it has a genuine power, which can partly be due to Eisenstein's theories on film editing (or "montage") and partly due to the mastery with which the large cast is directed.
The most startling sequence is the justifiably famous Odessa Steps massacre sequence, which has been referenced many times since. Here, if nowhere else in the film we see a master film-maker on top form.
Admittedly the film is often slow at times at the story-line is quite simplistic, as I said earlier the film is propaganda. The action may also seem quite slow by contemporary standards, but don't be put off. It is a film which I would recommend to anyone with a serious interest in cinema.