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| The Odessa Staircase |
Directed by Sergei M. Eisenstein
Starring Aleksandr Antonov, Vladimir Barsky and Grigori Aleksandrov
Produced by Goskino
Aboard the battleship Potemkin, there is a clear division between the ship's leadership and the working class men. The lower ranks are hearing about uprisings throughout Russia and can feel that change is in the air. The ship is a tinderbox of revolutionary angst. All it needs is the match.
The spark igniting the blaze comes from rotten meat rations being served to the crew. The men gather around a maggot-infested carcass and complain. The ship's doctor declares the beef to be perfectly safe. The ship's captain has the men who refused to eat lined up to be shot for their treason.
The working men appeal to the firing squad to rise up against the ship's captain and soon a full-scale mutiny is underway. The men take the ship, but one of the revolutionary leaders is gunned down. They take the fallen hero to shore and display his body in a tent. Soon, thousands of men, women and children are paying their respects to the martyr, delivering food and supplies to the crew and building up the ship to legendary status. But what will the people do when the tsar's army shows up and begins firing? And can the Potemkin withstand an assault by the entire Russian navy?
It's tough to view a film like Battleship Potemkin objectively. As you watch and evaluate it, critics whisper "This is important!" and the staircase sequence from The Untouchables (directly inspired by the film) plays on a loop in your brain.
And that staircase sequence of Battleship Potemkin is THE reason to watch this film. The Odessa Staircase segment legitimately provided something I had not seen in any of the previous 100 Years movies. Other movies use edits, but Eisenstein doesn't just cut between long, medium and close-up shots. His camera moves down the stairs with the people as they flee. He juxtaposes images and cuts between subjects in a scene. He uses the edits to show the results of violence. And most of all, he uses it to build tension.
There are amazing moments here. The woman shot through the eye. The woman going back for her dead child. But most of all, the baby carriage. A woman stands frozen on a landing of the staircase with the carriage unsure what to do. She is shot and starts falling. The carriage's wheels rock precariously close to the edge of the step. Then her body sends it careening down the stairs. Eisenstein's camera floats above the baby as the carriage rolls amongst the violence on the staircase. It's unlike anything seen in the other films from this era.
Even during this bravura sequence though, I see the baby carriage start going down the staircase and my mind goes to that shootout with Kevin Costner and Andy Garcia. I can't unwatch the contemporary movie so it's creeping into my viewing of Battleship Potemkin. I can feel that influence and I try to ignore it, but it's there all the same. I admire the cinematic achievement of the Odessa staircase sequence with the cold detachment of a cinephile, not with any connection to the characters. There's tension to be sure, but I'm never invested in the fate of the characters (well, except that baby).
Beyond the staircase sequence, there are moments and images that stand out. We see a line that stretches to the horizon of people waiting to pay their respects to the fallen hero. The film provides excruciating detail of how various elements of the battleship work, from its engine to its dining tables. And don't sit down for a meal while watching as you'll be treated to an extreme close up of maggot-infested meat.
As far as the story, it's a propaganda piece. There are no stars or individual heroes. Instead, we get a ship full of people rising up. A nameless Tsarist enemy. A mob of people. I can understand why the story unfolds this way (after all, when your propaganda piece is focused on the people rising up, you don't want to make it about any one person). However, without it being any one individual story, there's nothing to ground the story emotionally. It's technically incredible, but, as a narrative, it's not timeless.
The ending is a big bit of anti-climax. As the Potemkin steams toward the rest of the fleet, we sit with bated breath as the ship's crew prepares for battle. They signal to the other boats to join them in their revolutionary cause. And...they do. Immediately. Without any sense that there was any struggle amongst people on the other ships. It's just everybody on deck waving. The end.
I liked Battleship Potemkin. I can appreciate it the way one can appreciate the Rosetta stone. The stone allowed for an understanding of languages, cultures and stories that were previously inaccessible. The film provides an important point on the timeline of cinema on why images get juxtaposed the way they do. It allows for an understanding of how film has evolved and has a breathtaking sequence, but it never really works as a story. Still, having watched Battleship Potemkin, I know I will watch movies with a different, sharper eye.
Oh, and everyone should watch the Odessa staircase sequence at least once.
*** out of *****
NOTES: Battleship Potemkin was initially banned in West Germany, Great Britain and France out of fear it would incite a revolution.
In 2010, Empire magazine ranked Battleship Potemkin as third in "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema". It was also included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Jay Schneider.
In 2004, the Pet Shop Boys composed a new score for the movie. Because when I think black-and-white, Russian propaganda, landmark film, I think "West End Girls".
The film inspired the name of one of my favorite film-related podcasts: Battleship Pretension.
How big a deal is this movie? "Potemkin" doesn't trigger spellcheck in Microsoft.
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