Give up the mooring lines: how Sergei Eisenstein revolutionized cinema
On December 21, 1925, the premiere of Battleship Potemkin took place at the Bolshoi Theater, a film from a revolutionary country that revolutionized world cinema and has been consistently included in the lists of the greatest films of all time for a century. Izvestia recalled the details.
Anniversary painting
In the autumn of 1925, the USSR was preparing to widely celebrate the tenth anniversary of the first Russian Revolution. A special role in these celebrations was to be played by the "most important of the arts" — cinema. They commissioned 27-year-old Sergei Eisenstein, a director who had created the only full-length film "Strike" by that time, but had already gained a reputation as a genius.
A shot from the film "Strike"
The script by Nina Agadzhanova (in the recent past, an underground revolutionary), which was offered to the director, was called "1905." The idea of a movie epic captured Eisenstein: he already imagined how bloody Sunday, the uprising on the battleship Potemkin, strikes in St. Petersburg, and barricade battles in Moscow would show... Filming began in the Cradle of the Revolution. Despite the heavy fog, Eisenstein captured the railway workers' strike and the dispersal of the demonstration on Sadovaya Street. But it soon became clear that he, who was used to making everything perfect, simply would not have time to make such a film. The work began in June, and it was absolutely necessary to finish before the end of the year. Then Eisenstein decided to limit himself to one part of the script — the story of the rebellious battleship. The director intuitively felt that a riot on a ship, in a stormy sea, is not just a chronicle, it is a symbol of revolutionary change.
For full—scale filming, the filmmakers went to Odessa, where everything was happening. Scenes on the ship began to be rehearsed on the real battleship Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky (by that time it had been renamed the Freedom Fighter), but the deplorable condition of the legendary ship did not allow the filmmakers to turn around. As a result, they used the decommissioned battleship Twelve Apostles, which, ironically, was once sent to pacify the uprising on the Potemkin. Close-ups and massive shipboard scenes were filmed on the cruiser Komintern (formerly the Memory of Mercury).
A shot from the movie "Battleship Potemkin"
In a few months, Eisenstein ingeniously filmed all the famous myths about the "Battleship", starting with wormy borscht. One of the most powerful scenes of the film is the shooting of the instigators of the riot, who were covered with a tarp. The consultants objected: there was no such thing. But Eisenstein had no doubt that the truth of art, if executed at a high level, would be remembered sooner than the documentary truth.
The full-fledged co-author of the film was cameraman Eduard Tisset, a like-minded director who brilliantly created the image of a battleship lost in the stormy sea of history. Shooting inventively and powerfully, he was inexhaustible in ideas. Together with the director, he created a new, expressive language of cinema.
Wheelchair and flag
The film culminated in a tragic scene on the Potemkin Stairs. In this case, the director also deviated from historical authenticity. There was no such massacre in Odessa. But what a strong, unforgettable scene it turned out to be! The pioneering director used his signature method of "mounting attractions" here. Each frame works for an emotional impression. We see a crying baby. His mother died. Then his wheelchair jumps up the stairs. Then, in the close-up, we see the eyes of people who are staring in horror at this wheelchair. We see the impotence of people in front of the punishers. The callousness of the oppressive force — and the death of an innocent baby.
A shot from the movie "Battleship Potemkin"
At the end of the film, the red flag of the revolution was supposed to be flying over the rebellious battleship. How to convey the feeling of color in a black and white film? The red kumach in the frame will inevitably look black. The director made a bold and precise decision: a white canvas waved on the mast, and then, on film, it was painstakingly hand—painted red - on all 108 frames where it was required. Eisenstein did not entrust the sacrament to anyone: he worked with a brush and paint himself. This is how bright color appeared in Russian cinema for the first time. And in the epilogue of the film, the battleship was supposed to float out of the screen into the audience. This is perhaps the most transparent of Eisenstein's metaphors: the revolution continues, descendants have picked up the baton from the Potemkin sailors, and the Battleship, which has become a legend, will forever remain among us.
Ovation at the Bolshoi
Passionate about his work, Eisenstein did not want to part with the painting. He was constantly dissatisfied with something, the director did not interrupt the editing day or night. But it's time for the premiere. The film was supposed to be shown on December 21 after a solemn meeting dedicated to the anniversary of the 1905 revolution. The directors worked at a film factory on Zhitnaya Street. The film was shown at the Bolshoi Theatre, which was given over to cinema for the first time. The painting was shown on a huge screen, accompanied by a symphony orchestra and a choir. A projection booth was installed in the dress circle box. The audience was already listening to the first parts of the film, and the director's faithful squire Grigory Alexandrov was just approaching the Theater Square on a motorcycle with films depicting the finale of the film. The motorcycle stalled, and he had to run headlong from the Iversky Gate to the Big One with a box in his hands. When Alexandrov flew into the theater, he immediately realized that they had succeeded. The audience reacted violently to every scene of the film. When the red flag waved on the screen, thousands of people gasped...
A shot from the movie "Battleship Potemkin"
Of course, there were critics who were not satisfied that the film had too many metaphors, that it resembled a poem... Eisenstein replied to them: "I am reproached for the fact that Battleship is too pathetic. But aren't we human, don't we have temperament, don't we have passions, don't we have goals and objectives?" However, no one doubted that the painting had become an event with a capital letter.
Battleship conquers the world
Initially, a wide commercial distribution of the anniversary picture was not expected. The Battleship was going to be shown free of charge in clubs and factories at rallies dedicated to the 1905 revolution. It was believed that the audience would not buy tickets to a movie in which there are no chases, no gags, no kisses.
The film was released in January 1926. The advertising posters for Battleship were painted by the great Alexander Rodchenko. A spectacular mock-up of the battleship was installed on the facade of the Khudozhestvenny cinema. The ushers were dressed up in vests, and an orchestra was playing revolutionary marches in the lobby. The success exceeded expectations: there was an acute shortage of copies. In all cities, they wanted to see a sensational picture.
A crowd of people outside the capital's Khudozhestvenny cinema, where the film Battleship Potemkin is being shown
In the first two weeks of the rental, Eisenstein's film was watched by 300 thousand viewers. Even in our time, these are significant figures, and in those years, even in Moscow and Leningrad, there were still no large cinemas. But people were rushing to see the revolutionary film. There were not enough rolling copies. When the film, overcoming obstacles and prohibitions, was released in Germany and France, its distribution in the Soviet Union practically stalled. The Soviet film industry simply wasn't ready for such a demand... For example, the film was shown in Odessa only in 1927.
In several European countries, censorship declared that the Soviet film "poses a threat to public peace and order." Then the painting was illegally shown in clubs. "It's pointless to forbid. It exists, it lives, we breathe it in with the air, it's a different, new world. It's stupid to deny the existence of this world," German writer Lion Feuchtwanger said about Battleship. Officials could not prevent the film from being recognized. In 1926, Eisenstein became the world's most popular film director. Cameraman Eduard Tisset and the entire team of Soviet cinematographers were ready to carry on their hands. The whole world saw that Soviet Russia was not a "wild field", but a country of high culture capable of producing world—class works of art.
The great Charlie Chaplin called Battleship the best motion picture in the world. Eisenstein's genius was also recognized by his enemies. "From a cinematic point of view, the film is incomparable. Anyone who is not firm in his beliefs, after watching it, perhaps, could even become a Bolshevik," wrote Joseph Goebbels, the ideologue of Nazism, who proposed banning the painting. In Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, "Battleship" was watched only by the powerful; for the people, the film that conquered the planet remained banned. But this is also a kind of recognition.
A shot from the movie "Battleship Potemkin"
Everyone understood that this was a revolution in cinema. After Eisenstein, you just can't shoot in the old way. From now on, everyone tried to repeat his metaphors, his assertive editing, his ability to put emotion and thought into the frame. Eisenstein's picture has been repeatedly hailed as "the best film of all time." Art is not a sport, cinema does not accept "world championships". There is no doubt that a masterpiece appeared 100 years ago that changed the general understanding of art. He showed that with the help of a camera, on celluloid film, it is possible to create a Shakespearean epic.
It is believed that cinema is a perishable product. Technology is developing, new tapes are being released every month, and films from previous years look like an anachronism. But Battleship Potemkin is one of those rare masterpieces that do not become obsolete even 100 years later. Even today, he energizes us with the energy of artistic discovery. We feel the element of history that is ready to rush off the screen. This is an explosion painting, a revelation painting. The findings of Eisenstein and Tisset are still relevant for filmmakers. They learn from the Soviet master, they quote him. This will continue as long as cinema exists. Something else is also important. The film became a symbol of Soviet art of the 1920s - bold, innovative. This is a bright page in our history. Eisenstein proved that cinema is not only fun, but also high art.
The author is the deputy editor—in-chief of the magazine "Historian"
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
