The most famous of all Soviet-era films is ‘Battleship Potemkin’ which screens at Nenagh Arts Centre next Thursday.
Ostensibly a propaganda piece directed by Sergei Eisenstein, the film commemorates a pivotal moment in Russian history when in 1905 sailors aboard the battleship Potemkin protested against the Czarist regime, which was keeping them in deprived conditions.
This strike prompted local revolt in the port of Odessa and tangentially contributed to the collapse of Czarist rule in Russia. Eisenstein used ‘Battleship Potemkin’ to test montage editing techniques which we are now taken for granted in cinema, most notably in the famous closing scene, where Cossack soldiers march on civilians on the Odessa steps.
Hailed as one of the greatest films ever made, Battleship Potemkin remains engaging and intense, 90 years onwards from its release and is essential viewing for anyone interested in cinema.
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