Alexander Nevsky

Sergei Eisenstein, Russia, 1938, bw (8.8*)
Memorial Day War-a-thon Film #22
In 1242, Russia in being invaded by two sides - the Mongols from Asia to the east; and by the Germans Teutonic Knights of the Holy Roman Empire from the west, the European side. Novgorod is the last free, unconquered city in Russia. The population, calls on the Prince Aleksander Nevsky for help in organizing the defense - he had defeated Swedish invaders in a previous battle.

His plan is to lure the Germans onto a giant frozen lake, which is one of the great battles in cinema, shot in beautiful black and white. [see photo below] This movie was made on the eve of a threatened invasion of Russia by Germany, just before the outbreak of WW2. The idea was to obviously make pro-Russian, nationalistic propaganda. Nonetheless, it is an overwhelming, marvelous, stunning powerful masterpiece.

If you can forget the ideology, which is that Russia will always use her winter to her advantage in repelling invaders, and watch it as art, you will witness perhaps Eisenstein's greatest work, and a black-and-white classic.

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I Am Cuba

a.k.a. Soy Cuba
Mikhail Kalatozov, USSR-Cuba, 1964, bw (8.8*)

This is a remarkable film about fifties Cuba that is only now getting its proper recognition due to western prejudice. It's admittedly socialist propaganda, but is so well photographed and tells such a touching story that one can hardly disagree with its message. The film begins with a quote from Columbus' diary about "the most beautiful paradise on earth", then shows sugar cane farmers at work. Soon, the landowners tell farmers they've sold the land to United Fruit Company, and they all must abandon their homes and crops with no compensation. This leads to demonstrations in cities, and the fascist police kill many, added to the growing resentment of big business and corrupt government. Many of the now jobless farmers join a growing army in the mountains - with machetes as their only weapons until they can capture rifles in battles. When the government starts bombing the mountains and more civilian homes, they add to the ranks of the growing guerrilla movement.

Everyone knows the story, but few have seen this film, which captures the point of view of the innocent victims of capitalists, who were so short-sighted that to save just a few dollars of compensation for those displaced created a nation of communists and lost a valuable market for U.S. trade as a result, costing them billions over time - a just reward for those who think with their wealth first and their hearts last.

This Russian film has narration written by the famous poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, and was brilliantly directed by Mikhail Kalatozov. In 1996, it was voted into the archive films by the National Society of Film Critics, and nominated for an Independent Spirit award that year also, only 32 years after its release! Even Martin Scorsese has screened this film to talk about the cinematography and creative direction, which uses a lot of wide-angle, camera motion, and upward perspective to include the mountains and sky. Told in four major vignettes and running 141 minutes, the film does lack a consistent story line and will remain an "art" film, studied by professionals and students of film, but will always have limited appeal in a nation controlled by large corporations, as it exposes their guilt in their disdain for the laborers who do most of the work in every culture.

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The Cranes Are Flying

Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957, USSR, bw (8.4*)
Palm d'Or (Cannes)
This was one of the first post-Stalin films from the USSR that got distribution in the west, becoming a critical and commercial success in the US as well as winning the Palm d'Or at Cannes. It's a beautifully photographed black and white anti-war film that dealt with the effects of war on civilians in a realistic manner without sentimentality, similar to way Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives showed the effect of war on Americans.

The story involves a beautiful young woman named Veronika, played by Tatyana Samojlova, who has decided that Boris will be her fiance (not Mark), just as he gets sent off to WW2, along with best friend Stefan. His cousin Mark (Aleksandr Shvorin) receives a deferrment and remains behind, and is also in love with Veronika, who now must decide between remaining faithful or being practical. We first see the effect of the war on those who remain at home, and later for those who go off to war, as many return wounded, reminding Veronika the nurse of the absence of her love.

This is a heroic story about the struggle of the common man, and even manages to poke some good-natured fun at "the workers maintaining their work quota at the factory in spite of war". This is not a war story about heroism in battle, as we never see the war directly, but about courage and cowardice among the civilians.

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Man With a Movie Camera

Dziga Vertov, USSR, 1928, bw/silent (9.5*)
This is a very lively, fast-moving documentary that attempts to show to the world one day in the life of people within the Soviet Union. Most of the footage appears to be around Odessa, and the film begins showing sleeping people in a quiet city, some outside on benches or sidewalks, then as the sun rises, the city comes alive. What could have been just a boring travelogue has been instead raised to the level of art by some innovative cinematic techniques that even some of today's boring directors would be well advised to watch.

Director Dziga Vertov often shows his cameraman Kaufman (or did Kaufman film Vertov?) carrying the movie camera around on its tripod, or superimposed as a giant on top of a building, or as a window reflection. He even films Kaufman while he films a scene, such as a galloping horse and carriage which they're racing alongside in a convertible automobile. The resulting shot of the horse is simply breathtaking, as exciting as the chariot race in Wyler's Ben-Hur 31 years later, and it's likely that Wyler had seen this himself.

We are shown some mundane images, such as coal miners, shopkeepers, sunbathers, street cleaners, crowds entering buses; but we also see the unusual: women cleaning and greasing the tracks for electric streetcars, athletes clearing bars in slow motion, a woman shooting a rifle at a target with a hat bearing a swastika, a topless pair of women at the beach spreading mud over each other!

This is a short film at 70 minutes, but it moves very quickly for a silent film as none of the images are onscreen for long, so the result is perfect for the short attention span century, and the film editing is at genius level for just about any year. At times the modern soundtrack detracts somewhat, but there is a nice correlation between the music's rhythms and the visuals onscreen.

Vertov also shows the film being projected in a cinema in front of an audience; it start with them filing into the theater and taking seats, closes with the curtain being drawn and the crows exiting - so he shows the creative process during and after the film's completion. This is a bona fide cinema classic that ranks highly on all serious lists, it's #78 on our Top Ranked 1000 Films survey, and its the highest-ranked documentary.

[Note: I would have given this a 10 if it had a compelling story]

One of the first recipients of our World Film Awards, as we started with 15 silent classics

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