Review of Reds (1981) by Bart A — 01 Jul 2009

This is a great movie, but somewhat slow, not to be watched on a ´oh lets watch a movie´ hunch, like I did yesterday night without looking at the running time...

It does an epic job of painting the historical atmosphere in the U.S. of the early 20th century against the backdrop of WW1 and the Russian revolution. As such it also tells the story of how the U.S. socialist movement tore itself part (and never recovered to this day) with infighting and petty arguments.

The love story that unfolds against this background is an interesting one all by itself.

The rather volatile love between a feminist (before the emancipation) and a revolutionary/idealist, both also artists in a conservative country that just put it's first steps on the road to the super power that it would become after the next world war is worth being told for it's own merit.

Anyone that wants to get a feel for what the struggle of the socialist movement in the U.S. in those times was like and how it influenced people should probably watch this.