Gorgeous film to look at - visually splendiferous. Obviously, the battle on the ice, the centrepiece and climax of the movie, is very impressive, especially when the ice cracks. I particularly liked the face of the main Teutonic knight, always with a smug snarl on it - very picturesque, if slightly caricature-esque
I can't help thinking that Eisenstein is such a political filmmaker that he made propaganda films by choice! I don't know who financed Nevsky, and whether it was similar to Potemkin, which he was commisioned to make as a propaganda film, but it has a very unsubtle message of nationalism/patriotism. Its movies like this that helped cultivate the feeling of the nation together as one entity, and kept reminding Russians to think of themselves as separate from the world, and against all outsiders. The closing message of the movie is very hostile indeed:
"Let he who comes to Russia as a guest, be welcomed as a guest, but let he who comes with a sword die by the sword!" The plot of the movie fits this tagline, in that a group of Teutonic knights (I'm pretty sure that means they're German - which is why Russians loved this movie at the time, because it was about Russia staying strong against potential threats from German invasion, which Russia had always been vulnerable to, and would be again in a few years from the Nazis) invade russia, and you can imagine how it ends.
But with Eisenstein, as with admirering Riefenstahl and Griffith, you have to get past the often unsubtle message of the film, and its often distasteful political/social implications, and admire it for its artistry. As a movie, Nevsky is an unsubtle but visually beautiful battle epic/love triangle. Potemkin, the only other Eisenstein i've seen at time of writing, was a much greater achievement, in my opinion. But this is quite wonderful to watch - i do recommend it to you.
I can't help thinking that Eisenstein is such a political filmmaker that he made propaganda films by choice! I don't know who financed Nevsky, and whether it was similar to Potemkin, which he was commisioned to make as a propaganda film, but it has a very unsubtle message of nationalism/patriotism. Its movies like this that helped cultivate the feeling of the nation together as one entity, and kept reminding Russians to think of themselves as separate from the world, and against all outsiders. The closing message of the movie is very hostile indeed:
"Let he who comes to Russia as a guest, be welcomed as a guest, but let he who comes with a sword die by the sword!" The plot of the movie fits this tagline, in that a group of Teutonic knights (I'm pretty sure that means they're German - which is why Russians loved this movie at the time, because it was about Russia staying strong against potential threats from German invasion, which Russia had always been vulnerable to, and would be again in a few years from the Nazis) invade russia, and you can imagine how it ends.
But with Eisenstein, as with admirering Riefenstahl and Griffith, you have to get past the often unsubtle message of the film, and its often distasteful political/social implications, and admire it for its artistry. As a movie, Nevsky is an unsubtle but visually beautiful battle epic/love triangle. Potemkin, the only other Eisenstein i've seen at time of writing, was a much greater achievement, in my opinion. But this is quite wonderful to watch - i do recommend it to you.