Potemkin

The revolutionary film, Battleship Potemkin, is a silent film from 1925 by director Sergei Einstein whose story is loosely based on the real life mutiny which occured on the Russian Battleship Potemkin and the events which followed. Though the film is silent, Einstein creates a powerful political message by utilizing a dramatic score, a cast with emotionally-driven performances and a montage style of editing (a practice not put to use by many of the time), in order to induce a feeling of empathy and siding with the people of Odessa and the rebels of the battleship. Einstein effectively uses these elements throughout the film to weave a strong narrative that is considered by many to be one of the most influential propaganda films of all time.

The narrative of the film is segmented into five parts, with the first titled “Men and Maggots”, in which the men on board the battleship refuse to eat soup that was made with rotten meat. This segment of the film introduces the tension between the crew of the ship and their ruthless commanding officers, who are shown taking out their anger on the crew by whipping them with small whips in their sleep. When the crew is made to eat the rotten soup, their disgust at the maggots crawling on the meat can be seen distinctly, and as the score of the film begins to intensify, tensions being to rise to a breaking point and disgust turns to anger, leading to the next segment of the film.

The elements that make the first segment of the film successful are used continually in the following segments to further strengthen the film, but where the effectiveness of these elements really shines is in the famous and extremely emotional climax of the film, “The Odessa Staircase.” The segment starts softly with shots of the people of Odessa waving goodbye to the sailors as they set out for battle, but things quickly take a turn for the worse when a shot suddenly rings out and the massacre begins. The score of the segment takes the turn along with the picture, which starts out upbeat and adventurous, but becomes frantic and terrifying as the scene plays out. This segment is also where the montage style of editing which Einstein employs really stands out. Many quick cuts are made between wide shots of the Odessan people running down the staircase, close-up shots of people screaming, crying and dying, and shots of the soldiers’ boots as they uniformly walk down the steps as they conduct the massacre. This scene itself is one that could single-handedly make the film the powerful propaganda film that it is. The juxtaposition of shots between the horrified and murdered Odessans, and the oppressive image of the soldiers’ boots as they march down the steps is effective in creating a scene that stays with the viewer and elicits a strong emotional response. In fact, the scene is so believable, that to this day, many refer to it as having actually happened when it actually did not. Einstein was innovative in the techniques used in making the film and effectively used them to make a haunting film with great support toward it’s political bias.