Battleship Potemkin: A Revolution on Two Fronts
Eisenstein's Film was Revolutionary, On and Off the Screen
Apr 22, 2009
A revolutionary tale of mutiny and popular uprising, Battleship Potemkin was commissioned in 1925 by the Central Soviet Committee to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Potemkin uprising, when a group of sailors, refusing to eat maggot-infested meat, clashed with senior officers before taking control of the ship. The event itself came at the end of much wider civil unrest that had spread throughout Russia since the 1880s, and culminated in the partial Revolution of 1905. Although not a complete victory for the Marxists and democrats at its core, the 1905 Revolution was considered by Lenin to be a ‘dress rehearsal’ for the real revolution of October 1917.
A partly fictionalized re-creation of the events on board the Potemkin and on shore at Odessa, Battleship Potemkin is not just a film about revolution; in filmic terms, it is a revolution in itself. Often referred to alongside Citizen Kane as one of the greatest films of all time, Battleship Potemkin is certainly one of the most influential. It’s director – Sergei Eisenstein – was at the forefront of montage theory (and practice), and demonstrated an early commitment to both Marxist doctrine and the ability of film, as a mass media format, to appeal to and educate millions of illiterate Russian peasants.
The Odessa Steps
Undoubtedly, Eisenstein's most notorious use of montage is the powerful Odessa Steps sequence in Battleship Potemkin, which utilized over 150 individual shots to show the citizens of Odessa – men, women and children, alike – showing support and solidarity for the Potemkin sailors, before being brutally massacred by Tsarist troops. Introduced as a scene of celebration with the civilians cheering the Potemkin, the insert title of ‘Suddenly’ changes the whole tone and pace of the film as the steps quickly become a scene of chaos (reflected, of course, in the rapid-fire editing) with the only visual order provided by the troops as they advance upon the crowd and begin shooting.
Although it is often Eisenstein’s use of montage that gains most attention from critics and theorists, his composition of individual frames was also quite revolutionary. With the assistance of long time collaborators, Eduard Tisse (camera) and Grigory Alexandrov (production assistant), and through the creative use of lighting, angle and perspective, Eisenstein was able to create intellectual metaphors that went far beyond those of predecessors such as D.W. Griffith, a direct influence upon Eisenstein.
A Master of Film Technique
Whilst Battleship Potemkin is remembered largely for its technical innovations, it is useful to note that the use of these technical elements to supply emotional gravity and to play to the sympathies of its audience was a very important factor in the film's original success as well as its enduring legacy. A master of film technique, Eisenstein's true brilliance lay in his ability to manipulate these technical elements in such a way that they would elicit profound (and remarkably clear) responses from his audience.
This ability to convey emotion in clear and simple terms meant that Eisenstein would realise his desire to appeal to, and educate, the Russian peasantry. From another perspective, of course, the ease of this emotional elicitation meant that Eisenstein (and those who commissioned him to make films) had developed the ability to manipulate these very same audiences. After all, Battleship Potemkin is nothing if not a piece of artful propaganda.
A Lasting Influence
Along with its technical and stylistic innovation, Battleship Potemkin also exerted a wide political influence, proving beyond any doubt that film was the propaganda media du jour. In the wake of Battleship Potemkin, many attempts were made to emulate the propagandistic fervor at its heart. Nazi Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels, for instance, reportedly found it to be ‘a marvelous film, without equal’, lamenting that the films he commissioned in the early 1930s had not lived up to the standard of the ‘Nazi Battleship Potemkin’ that he had hoped for.
A great fan of the power of propaganda, Eisenstein was instrumental in the early promotion of Bolshevism and Communism, despite his later ostracism at the hands of the Communist establishment for not ‘toeing the party line’. Aside from being a gifted director, Eisenstein was also a particularly astute film theorist. In an article published the year after his death, and over twenty years after the completion of Battleship Potemkin, Eisenstein likened the mechanics of montage to, among other things, the internal combustion engine and molecular biology, providing a clear demonstration of a deeply felt world view in which individual elements should combine for the greater good. A notion at the very heart of Battleship Potemkin and, thematically and technically, the hallmarks of one man's invaluable contribution to global cinema.
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