Alexander Nevsky and Eisenstein
In the “attack of the knights” in Alexander NevskyâÂ?¦the montage image-episode, the montage image-event, the montage image-film in its entirety-of equal rights, of equal footing with the image of the hero, with the image of the man, and of the people.
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Eisenstein was born in 1848 and was a master filmmaker who uniquely used such techniques as intellectual montage, emotional montage, image splitting, and typage (casting regular people in roles instead of actors). Some of his most accomplished films were Strike, October, and Battle Ship Potenkin. The latter is a landmark film, which is often in modern great film lists. One of Eisenstein’s iconic pieces of film making comes from Potenkin in the form of the “Odessa Steps” scene. Besides his masterpieces, Eisenstein is also remembered as one of the godfathers of film theory. Eisenstein’s two books on film theory Film Form and Film Sense have become the base of film theory for all other film theorists.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 ushered in the socialist Lenin, who was aware of the power of film. The leader knew that educating the Russian people was not going to be an easy job and saw the potential of film as a teaching tool. Lenin used movies to spread socialist propaganda. Lenin was one of the reasons why the Russian film industry became a strong force in global film community. It is also true that the socialists were easier on filmmakers because making film was a craft not many other people could easily pick up, unlike writing a book. One of the filmmakers Lenin saw potential in was Sergei Eisenstein, who directed the pro-people, socialist film Battle Ship Potenkin.
Joseph Stalin was also aware of the power of film and again Eisenstein was called upon to make a socialist film promoting the ideals of socialism. Alexander Nevsky was one of the films the director made under the dictator’s rule. Nevsky was released in 1938 with the intention of showing Eisenstein’s loyalty to the dictator. Not only was Nevsky a success in showing Eisenstein loyalty to the dictator he had to work for, the film was a successful film in terms of both film making and propaganda.
One of the cornerstones of socialism is the attention to “the people.” Alexander Nevsky is a film based on the ideas, lives, actions, and accomplishments of the “people;” the Russian people. The film starts out showing the hero, Nevsky as a fisherman working as a commoner who then is called upon to defeat the invading German armies. The film acts to show the common people in a few ways. First a love affair triangle is a subplot in the film. The love story, a film convention, is based around three common soldiers, not involving royalty or nobles like many period films show. The love story also involves a woman who is a soldier. This inclusion of a woman is not as much of an example of early feminism in the film as it is an example of the socialist ideas. Socialism shows that “the people” are capable.
The intention of the film was also to identify with the audience “the people” who watched it in Stalin’s Russia and the film was successful in showing the lives of common men and women. Men and women are shown drinking, shopping at the market, preparing for battle, fighting in battle, and the aftermath of battle. When the men return home after the great battle on the River, a concerned and strong mother comes to her son’s side and is more concerned about his marriage prospects than anything else. In the film, as Nevsky prepares for battle, the nobles call the Russian people to fight for their homeland and many “commoners” join Nevsky’s army to fight the evil Germans.
The propaganda of the film is cemented in the final speech of Alexander Nevsky in the celebrating city of Pskov after the Russian defeated the Germans. Nevsky releases the German foot soldiers because he said they had no choice but to follow the orders of their superiors. The foot soldiers seem grateful to Nevsky and again his status of a man of the people is highlighted. Nevsky then says he will use the nobles as ransom for soap, a joke about the worth of a noble knight, or an indication of the value of a good bath in medieval Russia. The third thing Nevsky does, which again promotes the value of “the people,” is that the German clergy are turned over to the Russian mob to be punished.
The last speech foreshadows the antagonism between Russia and Germany in WWII. The final speech is a battle cry for Russia by Nevsky “Go and tell everyone in the foreign lands that Russia lives. He who comes to us as a guest, let him come with no reservation. But he, who comes to us with a sword, shall die by the sword. On this stands Russia, and on this she still stand forever.” This speech was not only a rallying cry for the Russian people under Stalin, it is a timeless statement that can be applied to Russian people regardless of politics.
Eisenstein did not only use speeches like Nevsky’s to show that “the people” were the most important “character” in the film. Eisenstein used film itself to show that people and their emotions were the driving force of the film through his ideas of how the film should be shot, the images in each frame, lighting, and movement. The director used his film making techniques and skills to make the film show that human emotion was the key to the film ” employing for source the structure of human emotion, it unmistakably appeals to emotion, unmistakably arouses the complex of those feelings that gave birth to the composition.”
Eisenstein transcended the socialist setting in which the film was made to make the film itself into an exercise in using the concept of people and human emotions as a base for the film. Alexander Nevsky was a fine piece of film making on Eisensteins part, but seen as a component in a larger body of work, shows the genius of Eisenstein and his theory about film making.
