It's everyfilmin2011's first foray of the year into the world of silent movies, thanks to the re-release of the Russian classic Battleship Potemkin .
And thanks to the British Film Institute for sending me a DVD preview copy.
Essentially, Sergei Eisenstein's film is a propaganda exercise, made less than 10 years after the Russian revolution.
It shows the first throws of dissent in Tsarist Russia with the true story of the 1905 mutiny on the Potemkin in Odessa Harbour.
The ship was taken but when the people of Odessa were caught on the tide of rebellion they were massacred by guards loyal to the royal family.
What Eisenstein does so effectively is demonstrate how a small uprising (in this case by sailors disatisfied at being fed rotten meat) can turn into full-scale rebellion.
It is a movie whose strands are black and white. The battle of the small but worthy against the oppressors who will even murder women and children to get their way.
It is a truly epic movie with hundreds of extras needed for the harbour scenes in Odessa.
And, in its day, it was shocking for the way violence was portrayed. In that aspect it was decades before its time.
I've struggled to glean much emotion from silent movies before (not that I'm an expert) but the feeling of injustice and the determination for right to prevail was so well put across that I was almost willing the rebels on towards victory,
As said, it is a classic. But because it it so one-eyed, it can not score higher than 8/10.
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