April 26, 2005

Pauline Kael: 5001 movies

Next up?

Alexander Nevsky 1938

Sergei Eisenstein's ponderously surging epic has a famous score by Prokofiev and a stunning battle on ice. When it's great it's very great, but there are long deadly stretches (which isn't the case with Eisenstein's other films). The plot has something to do with the 13th century invasion of Russia by German knights; needless to say, the Russians drive the invaders out. The propaganda isn't Communist but nationalist : the medieval story was used to warn Hitler to stay out.
Posted by sheila
Comments

I love Pauline's honesty here that she isn't exactly clear on the plot. Yes, it's the knights of the Teutonic Order invading Muscovy to crush as much of Eastern Orthodoxy in the name of Rome as they could, the reason why there are still lots of German family names in the Baltic countries and, indeed, why until the Revolution there were so many "Baltic German" aristocrats at the Tsar's court. The WWII analogy sure couldn't be more obvious, and while she's right that it lags in places, visually all of Eisenstein's stuff is amazing.

Posted by: Dave J at April 26, 2005 9:10 AM

Well, history isn't necessarily a good plot.

Sure, his stuff is visually incredible - there's nobody better. But Kael is calling him on the fact that this film bores her. One of my acting teachers said to our class: "Boredom is extremely important in life. It's a signal that something is wrong."

You shouldn't need historical cliff notes in order to enjoy a film.

Posted by: red at April 26, 2005 9:14 AM

"You shouldn't need historical cliff notes in order to enjoy a film."

Oh, believe me, I agree completely. That's part of why, although I think visually it might be Eisenstein's best work (tough call), it's still his weakest film: although the third part was never finished, I'd pick Ivan the Terrible for his best. If the parallels to the war are obvious in Alexander Nevsky, such that it was used as propaganda, the parallels between Ivan and Stalin are equally obvious such that you can see why the film was banned for twelve years.

Posted by: Dave J at April 26, 2005 10:12 AM

It's interesting to me just how much Eisenstein is copied. I think sometimes people copy him and don't even know what they're copying. LIke they THINK they're copying Brian Da Palma, but they're actually copying him. It's really quite amazing.

What is also amazing is to have PROKOFIEV write the soundtrack. I mean, please!!

Posted by: red at April 26, 2005 10:15 AM