Review of Battleship Potemkin (1925) by Neil Charles Kevin S — 21 Jul 2015

A film which this year celebrates it's 90th birthday has been frequently cited among the greatest of all time, and has occasionally occupied the top slot on such lists. As a propaganda film it shamelessly depicts its antagonists as cruel snobs who care nothing for those below themselves, and gives them no redeeming features whatsoever.

Most of them don't even have names. Without paying even close attention, many of the technical cracks are plain to see. It's integration of stock footage and even cutaway shots to what looks like a toy ship floating in a tub of water against a grey backdrop seem especially silly by today's standards, but what still holds up are its themes and morals.

Much like The Bicycle Thief, another masterpiece, simple human desires, in this case the craving for liberation and fair treatment, appear small at first, but the film cleverly amplifies them to the point where you can feel them in every moment.

The Odessa Step sequence, a scene that bears the drool marks of film historians and directors the world over, still holds up very well, existing as a hallmark of directing, camera-work, editing and stark, often brutal imagery.

It's not the kind of film you would watch on a regular basis, especially if entertainment is all you seek, but with ever-relevant themes, a stirring musical score and surprising tension and emotional heft, Battleship Potemkin is rightly regarded as a piece of seminal cinema.