Battleship Potemkin

Today in Russian Cinema, we watched the film Battleship Potemkin, directed by Sergei Eisenstein. This film was made in 1925. I preferred Battleship Potemkin to the other silent films that were made by Evgeni Bauer. Battleship Potemkin was more entertaining than Bauer’s movies because of the subject matter of the film and the cinematic technique used by Eisenstein. One aspect of Eisenstein’s film that I enjoyed was the camera shots were quicker than Bauer’s. In Bauer’s films, camera shots would last for long periods of time, making it easy to become bored or uninterested with a scene. This made the films move at a slow pace. In Battleship Potemkin, the camera angles and shots change quickly, making the pace of the movie faster than any of the Bauer films we watched in class. This made the movie exciting and helped hold my attention throughout the duration of the film.

            Throughout Battleship Potemkin, it is easy to see that there is a political message that is meant to be sent to the viewers. It sends the message that there needs to be a rebellion against the people who are ruling Russia, as they have become oppressors. This is demonstrated when the crew of the ship holds a mutiny against the senior officers and commander of the battleship. It is difficult to find another interpretation for the film, as Eisenstein has made it quite clear who the viewer should sympathize with in the film. During the sequences of film that take place on the ship, the senior officers are dressed in black, they are cruel, and clumsy as well. The officers are mean to their men, and the sailors on the ship also live in poor conditions. This makes the viewer side with the sailors on the ship and support the mutiny that takes place later in the film. The sailors wear lighter clothes, making the mutiny that occurs seem like a battle between good and evil. Religion enters the film as well; there is a priest in the film dressed in black and he has a menacing presence. Though he is menacing, he is portrayed as a coward as during the mutiny he falls and pretends that he is either dead or passed out. His portrayal in the film makes sense, as Atheism was supported by the Soviets.

            Eisenstein did an excellent job with Battleship Potemkin, and it is clear to me that he has a great influence on the silent film industry and the film industry today. His influence can be seen in the movie, The Untouchables. In the film, Kevin Costner is fighting with members of Al Capone’s gang on the stairs in a train station. During the shootout, a woman accidentally sends her baby down the stairs in a baby carriage. The film then focuses on Kevin Costner as he tries to save the baby while simultaneously fighting the members of Capone’s gang. This sequence of the film mirrors the sequence in Battleship Potemkin where a baby rolls down the Odessa staircase while soldiers are shooting the people gathered on the staircase.