Battleship Potemkin

Battleship Potemkin (Russian: Бронено́сец «Потёмкин», Bronenosets Potyomkin), sometimes spelled as Battleship Potyomkin is a 1925 silent drama Russian movie directed by Sergei Eisenstein. The movie is about a ship crew rebelling against their officers on the Battleship Potemkin and the events that follow. The film is often considered one of the best movies ever made.

Battleship Potemkin
Original Soviet release poster
Directed by	Sergei Eisenstein
Written by	Nina Agadzhanova Sergei Eisenstein Intertitles; uncredited: Nikolai Aseyev Sergei Tretyakov
Produced by	Jacob Bliokh
Starring	Aleksandr Antonov Vladimir Barksy Grigori Aleksandrov
Cinematography	Eduard Tisse Vladimir Popov (Uncredited)
Edited by	Uncredited: Sergei Eisenstein Grigori Aleksandrov
Music by	Various, including Edmund Meisel (original 1925 score) Nikolai Kryukov (1950 score) Chris Jarrett (1985 soundtrack) Eric Allaman (1986 soundtrack) Lindsey and Chris Lowe (2005 score) Michael Nyman (2011 soundtrack) Edison Studio (2017 soundtrack)
Production company	Mosfilm
Distributed by	Goskino
Release date	21 December 1925 (1925-12-21)
Running time	75 minutes
Country	Soviet Union
Languages	Silent film Russian intertitles

Plot

The film is set in 1905 and is divided into five acts. The Potemkin is part of the Imperial Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet.

Act 1: Men and Maggots

This opening act shows the poor conditions of the crew. Matyushenko and Vakulinchuk are two sailors who talk about the revolution. They want the sailors of the ship to join the revolution. Sailors are sleeping in their hammocks, and an officer beats a sailor. On deck, there appears to be rotten meat. The sailors complain about it and their low rations and refuse to eat it.

Act II: Drama on the Deck

The men who did not eat meat are ordered to be killed by a firing squad. The sailors with rifles lower their weapons and do not shoot. This is when the uprising starts. Sailors throw officers overboard and take over the ship. However, the leader Vakulinchuk is killed.

Act III: A Dead Man Calls Out

The Potemkin goes to the shores of Odessa. Sailors display Vakulinchuk's body in public. The people are sad but inspired. They start getting upset about the Tsar and his government. The sailors say goodbye and praise Vakulinchuk as a hero.

Act IV: The Odessa Steps

Many people have come to see the sailors and say goodbye. Suddenly soldiers (Cossack) start shooting at the people on the steps. They continue to march down the steps and shoot at men, women, and children. A baby carriage rolls down the steps, and a woman shot in the face with broken glasses is shown. The people cry out to the soldiers. In response, sailors of Potemkin shoot at the Opera House. There was a meeting there with Tsarist military leaders.  

Act V: One Against All

The sailors go out into the sea to face the fleet of the Tsar. The sailors of the other ships do not open fire. Instead, they cheer the Potemkin on.

Cast

• Aleksandr Antonov as Grigory Vakulinchuk (Bolshevik sailor)
• Vladimir Barsky as Commander Golikov
• Grigori Aleksandrov as Chief Officer Giliarovsky
• I. Bobrov as Young sailor flogged while sleeping
• Mikhail Gomorov as Militant sailor
• Aleksandr Levshin as Petty Officer
• N. Poltavseva as Woman with pince-nez
• Lyrkean Makeon as the Masked Man
• Konstantin Feldman as Student agitator
• Beatrice Vitoldi as Woman with the baby carriage

Style

Eisenstein wanted the movie to be a propaganda film. Eisenstein wanted viewers to feel sorry for the sailors and support their rebellion. The film was created very emotionally. This was so viewers could sympathize with the characters. Eisenstein uses a lot of montage editing to create emotional effects. Eisenstein was unhappy that not many people watched the movie in Russia.

The Odessa Steps sequence

The Odessa Steps sequence is a very famous scene in cinema. It is a classic example of montage theory. It has influenced other movies.

Many other movies reference to or parody the scene.

Films that refer to the scene:

• Terry Gilliam's Brazil,
• Brian De Palma's The Untouchables,
• George Lucas's Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith,
• Tibor Takacs's Deathline,
• Laurel and Hardy's The Music Box,
• Chandrashekhar Narvekar's Hindi film Tezaab,
• Shukō Murase's anime Ergo Proxy,
• Peter Sellers' The Magic Christian,
• The Children Thief,
• Johnnie To's Three
• Ettore Scola's We All Loved Each Other So Much.

Films that parody the scene:

• Woody Allen's Bananas and Love and Death;
• Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker's Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult (though also a parody of The Untouchables);
• the Soviet-Polish comedy Deja Vu;
• Jacob Tierney's The Trotsky;
• The short film Mr. Bill Goes to Washington;
• The German-Turkish film Kebab Connection;
• and the Italian Fantozzi comedy film Il secondo tragico Fantozzi.

Censorship

There were not too many showings of the film in Russia. In other countries, the movie was controversial at the time. Countries like England, France, Germany and United States banned the movie for some time. Countries were worried that soldiers and sailors would apply the film and rebel against officers. Countries also thought the movie was too violent.

Reception

Modern critics praise the film as one of the best. The film has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film has a 97% rating on Metacritic. Critics say it is the best in Russian Cinema and that its montage editing is influential. Brussel's World Fair named the film the greatest film of all time in 1958. In 1952, the Sight & Sound magazine ranked the film fourth best out of all films. It got 11th place in the same 2012 poll. The film was also ranked the 11th best film at the British Film Institute poll.

Other websites

• Battleship Potemkin on IMDb