|
Sergei Eisenstein’s Strike is one of the few films ever made that absolutely deserves to be touted as a visual tour-de-force. From its spirited beginning to its cattle-slaughtering end, the film’s moving camerawork and inventive editing supports the plight of the worker against the administration that keeps them suppressed in the factory and it does this with an in-your-face attitude that is both aggressive and artistic.
In a pre-revolution Russia, the bolsheviks are gathering their forces and planning a strike that no one will be able to ignore. Factory workers, tired of being repressed and abused by the elite, begin to join in for the collective cause. Yet, when one of their workers, Yakov, hangs himself after being unable to prove his innocence in the theft of a screw gauge, all hell breaks loose. Labor ceases. People take to the streets. In a collective force against the wealthy, the people unite with fists in the air and, in a mass force, reclaim the land that was once theirs.
In the days that pass, the empty factory becomes home to birds and dust and not one factory worker could care. They refuse to return to work until they are treated properly, so to hell with the place that feeds them. Wolves roam the offices. Even managers hide – albeit in swanky rooms far from the village - while they await the demands of the workers (8 hour work day, 6 hours for minors, more money, and equal treatment). Children, swept away by the revolutionary spirit of their fathers, take to the street and reenact the march that brought their community attention. But the fat men with their fat cigars and even fatter cigars will hear of no such thing and bring in a massive amount of soldiers to police the uprising and bring the upstarts to a swift justice. And so begins the slaughter.
Their workers will obey!
The black-and-white imagers are violent and filled with an urgent rage. Eisenstein is on the march. His explicit and effective use of montage is, at once, beautiful and psychological affecting. Strike is his first film; months before Battleship Potemkin; and only moments before his essay addressing the art of the montage and still it rings of confidence and swagger. His artistic vision remains intact with panther-like poise.
The attack against the uprising is filled with moments that aren’t easily wrangled from the mind. Here, the montage is used to cinematic acclaim. Workers are mirrored with the true-life slitting and slicing of cattle’s necks and the violent matting brings home the theme of workers being used until they are considered worthless by their managers. Yes, it’s unsettling but completely effective in striking a chord. Obviously, Eisenstein was certainly an influence for filmmakers of the 1970s. Apocalypse Now anyone?
Call them dirty rabble rousers. Call them whatever you will. These workers of Strike are united in bringing the revolution to Russia. Divided into six sections, Kino International’s release of Eisenstein’s Strike is reason enough to celebrate the blu-ray format, comrade.
MPAA Rating: This film has not been rated by the MPAA.
