BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (Bronenosets Potyomkin) (1925) - ♦♦♦♦♦

Directed by - Sergei M. Eisenstein

Written by - Nina Agadzhanova

Starring - Aleksandr Antonov, Vladimir Barsky, Grigori Aleksandrov

"It's hard to overestimate the importance of Battleship Potemkin which, even to this day, feels groundbreaking and deeply influential. The story revolves around the events that led up to and followed the mutiny that occurred in 1905 when the crew of the titular Russian battleship rebelled against their officers of the Tsarist regime. 

There are many elements of the film that particularly stand out. First and formost, it is split up into five different episode, a structure that adds great power of immediacy and makes it seem as much a forceful factual account of the events as an actual dramatization. This is an approach that is further strengthened by Eisenstein's use of a collective form of storytelling that tends to treat masses as cinema would normally treat individual characters. The power of this particular approach also strengthens the us vs. them theme that drives it, and contributes to the film's reputation as one of the greatest cinematic works of political or revolutionary propaganda. 

Battleship Potemkin is also rightfully praised for its masterful showcase in editing, and familiarised people with the theory of montage, of which Eisenstein himself is considered the father. The rhythm of the film is intensified and deeply affected by such experimentation, that builds up a sense of urgency which conveys the hatred of the rebels and greatly sympathises with the victims oppressed by the ruling classes. 

Such artistry and technical confidence is famously remarkably expressed in one of its most celebrated scenes - the Odessa steps scene in which the Tsar's soldiers march rhythmically down an endless flight of steps and advances menacingly towards the crowd at the bottom of the stairs. Despite the fact that the event never actually took place, it's one of the strongest political statements committed on the screen, and feels so compellingly authentic as to also represent the power of cinema in manipulating history. "

Action, Soviet Union