Alexander (Petrovich) Dovzhenko is often cited as one of the most important Soviet filmmakers, alongside Sergei Eisenstein, Dziga Vertov, and Vsevolod Pudovkin, due to his pioneering contribution to montage theory.
An artist of many talents, Dovzhenko was a Ukrainian Soviet director, film producer and screenwriter.
Earth, the third panel of his “Ukraine Trilogy” (Zvenigora and Arsenal were the previous ones), is his most well-known work.
The second chapter, Arsenal, was poorly received by the communist authorities in Ukraine, who began harassing Dovzhenko–fortunately, for him, Stalin watched the film and liked it.
Dovzhenko’s Earth has been praised, especially in the West, as one of the greatest silent movies ever made.
Shedding positive light on collectivization, the plot revolves around a greedy landowner’s attempt to ruin a successful collective farm, just as it celebrates the delivery of its first tractor.
A modernist work, inspired by folk art, Earth is an unabashed ode to the values and merits of collectivization.
Through the arrival of the first tractor and the subsequent tragic death of the youth head of the village committees, the director is dealing with the binary concepts of birth and death, stagnant agricultural present vs. the prospects of progressive technology.
But ideology and politics aside, Earth is a sensual art film, defined by such lyrical images as the swaying wheat fields, ripening fruits, and stampeding horses.
It is noteworthy, that the opening sequence of a long close-up of an elderly dying man enjoying the taste of an apple, was criticized by some intellectuals as being an indulgent scene devoid of obvious political message.
Ultimately, what lingers in mind is the imagery of the village men urinating in the tractor’s radiator, and the men placing their hands inside the women’s blouses, suggesting that they draw vitality and comfort from the experience rather than sheer sensual pleasure.
Political Movies: 100 Most Significant–No. 61: “Earth” (1930) by Soviet Director Dovzhenko
Alexander (Petrovich) Dovzhenko is often cited as one of the most important Soviet filmmakers, alongside Sergei Eisenstein, Dziga Vertov, and Vsevolod Pudovkin, due to his pioneering contribution to montage theory.
An artist of many talents, Dovzhenko was a Ukrainian Soviet director, film producer and screenwriter.
Earth, the third panel of his “Ukraine Trilogy” (Zvenigora and Arsenal were the previous ones), is his most well-known work.
The second chapter, Arsenal, was poorly received by the communist authorities in Ukraine, who began harassing Dovzhenko–fortunately, for him, Stalin watched the film and liked it.
Dovzhenko’s Earth has been praised, especially in the West, as one of the greatest silent movies ever made.
Shedding positive light on collectivization, the plot revolves around a greedy landowner’s attempt to ruin a successful collective farm, just as it celebrates the delivery of its first tractor.
A modernist work, inspired by folk art, Earth is an unabashed ode to the values and merits of collectivization.
Through the arrival of the first tractor and the subsequent tragic death of the youth head of the village committees, the director is dealing with the binary concepts of birth and death, stagnant agricultural present vs. the prospects of progressive technology.
But ideology and politics aside, Earth is a sensual art film, defined by such lyrical images as the swaying wheat fields, ripening fruits, and stampeding horses.
It is noteworthy, that the opening sequence of a long close-up of an elderly dying man enjoying the taste of an apple, was criticized by some intellectuals as being an indulgent scene devoid of obvious political message.
Ultimately, what lingers in mind is the imagery of the village men urinating in the tractor’s radiator, and the men placing their hands inside the women’s blouses, suggesting that they draw vitality and comfort from the experience rather than sheer sensual pleasure.