Battleship Potemkin

 

Battleship Potemkin 1925

• Director: Sergei Eisenstein
• Based on the book: no
• Why? The Classic of all classics
• Seen: Once before. Now 20 November 2022

 

       You have no doubt seen the baby carriages bouncing down the steps in Odessa but have you seen the film? It is so much more than this scene, as magnificent as it is.

       It’s 1905. The spirit of revolution is sweeping across Russia. The sailors aboard the Potemkin mutiny against the brutal tyranny on board and ally themselves with the workers and townspeople of Odessa.

       The film is simply brilliant. It’s not only a dramatic and suspenseful story but it captures the excitement and rage, despair and hope of the time. Every single scene of this black and white silent masterpiece is beautifully and artistically created. For the visuals alone the film cannot, I dare say, be surpassed.

       I am not a proper cineaste. I have no degrees in film analysis. But I love film as an art form, as a teller of stories, as a conveyor of the essence and complexity of humanity.

       Battleship Potemkin has it all. See it. Then see it again. And again. 

5* of 5. No, actually, 10* of 10