Alexander Nevsky (1938) - #87

Meanwhile, back in the USSR...

Here's a robust slice of Soviet propaganda, pre-WWII, and with good reason. At the time that Alexander Nevsky was in production, relations between Nazi Germany and Communist Soviet Union were, to put it mildly, strained. Hitler and Stalin were at opposite ends of the political spectrum but both recognized the tyrannical potentials of the other and presumably understood that war was inevitable within the next few years. Going to war is never just a matter of military preparedness of course. In modern societies there's a large population that needs to be convinced that the atrocities, hardships and sacrifices to come are not simply necessary, but vital to the nation's self-interest. In order to make that conviction stick, the individual inhabitants of nations need to be persuaded that they are better off identifying with the collective than they would be breaking off into isolation or opposition to the powers of the state. With the advent of film technology and it's recognizable effect on human thoughts and feelings, any would-be world conqueror intending to stay in the game and win had no choice but to harness the potential of movies to sway public opinion.

Hitler, Goebbels and crew were busy in Germany doing just that, of course, but since Criterion leans left, politically speaking, I don't expect them to be releasing the work of Leni Reifenstahl, for example. That's fine with me - I don't really need to include Triumph of the Will or Olympia in my DVD collection anyway. But the inclusion of Alexander Nevsky in the Criterion Collection presumably has a lot more to do with the career and accomplishments of its director - Sergei Eisenstein - than with the political applications of the film he presented, first to Stalin, then to his fellow Soviet citizens and then the rest of the world, in 1938, a year or so before the seemingly inevitable outbreak of war in Europe.

Now I could do some quick research on Eisenstein to fill you in on what makes him so great, but I'll admit it here: I'm all but completely ignorant of his work, so instead, I'll be content to just link his name to a helpful article about him. I know he directed Battleship Potemkin, with the famous scene of the baby carriage rolling freely and dangerously down the steps in the middle of some armed oppression of poor people. He's known as the innovator who either introduced or mastered the use of the montage. His silent films are generally considered his greatest masterpieces, with his sound films suffering a bit from government interference under Stalin and other production problems that severely limited his output from the 1930s forward. That's really about as much as I have to say about Eisenstein's career. I have much to learn.

And I will. This DVD is part of a three-disc set called Eisenstein: The Sound Years which features this film and the two parts of Ivan the Terrible, which wouldn't be produced until WWII had run its course. That pretty much sums up all of what Eisenstein was able to finish before his death in 1948. I promise to study up some more on this venerable pioneer of cinema before the time comes for me to review his next film.

So who is this Alexander Nevsky? He was a historic Russian leader from the early 13th century who earned his fame by fending off an attack by the Swedes from the west and working out an agreement with Mongol raiders from the east that helped Russia maintain its territorial integrity at a vulnerable time in its history. The action of the film primarily focuses on his leadership throughout an invasion by (you guessed it) German warriors who pretty much have their way as they rampage across Russian soil, until they push their ambitions too far and go after the resilient city of Novgorod. Though outnumbered, using inferior weapons and lacking military discipline, the film reinforces the message that zealous peasants, armed with rudimentary elements like spears, axes and crude swords, can defend their motherland from an otherwise superior force - a message that Stalin had a highly vested interest in disseminating.

Thus he enlisted, through the state-controlled film studio Mosfilm, two of the preeminent talents in Russian culture at the time: the two Sergeis, filmmaker Eisenstein and composer Prokofiev (best known to me anyway as the composer of "Peter and the Wolf.") Both men had fallen into some disrepute in the USSR (their fidelity to communism being called into question, among other problems) but this film got them back in good graces with the powerbrokers in Moscow. As best I can tell, Prokofiev's film score is still quite highly admired - and it is pretty good, especially the way that it syncs up with the film edits - but admirers of Eisenstein consider it too compromised and stilted to rank among his best work. Since I'm so underexposed in that regard, I'll say that I enjoyed the film on its own terms, gladly exchanging realistic characterizations and narrativce complexity for what turns out to be a forceful, iconic and fascinating cinematic folktale.

This video clip packs the basic storyline into less than nine minutes, with some helpful intertitles that provide historical background on the events depicted in the film. It eliminates a tacked on romantic subplot featuring two warriors competing for the affections of one woman, and also lacks Alexander's exhortations to his peasant subjects (and of course, the Soviet citizens who would inherit the task, a few years later, of defending their homeland from yet another German invasion.) But it does offer a nice sample of Eisenstein and Prokofiev's collaboration, including some battle scenes that for my money rank pretty high up there in epic production values, especially considering the limited budget and lo-tech equipment they had to work with. I know that other, older films featured some big staged combat scenes, but the "Battle on the Ice" clearly set the standard for future wars-on-film.



In fact, I could not help but note what seems like obvious influence to me on two of the biggest, most lucrative epic films of our times: Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings. The Star Wars echoes came from both the "rivals for the same girl" subplot mentioned above (Luke and Han Solo) and even more from the costuming and characterizations of the German villains. Look at the clip carefully and you'll see the precursors for Darth Vader, the Emperor, the Imperial Guard and the Stormtroopers. I'm convinced of it! I don't know how common this observation has been but to me it's a pretty obvious connection.

The LOTR link can be found in the battle scenes of two massive armies lining up, staring each other down, then gathering momentum before clashing mightily into each other. Of course, hundreds of similarly staged battles were filmed between Alexander Nevsky and The Return of the King, but I even saw strong similarities between Nevsky's war helmet and the armor donned by Aragorn when it came time for him to fulfill his royal destiny. Perhaps it's more fitting to say that LOTR just follows in the noble tradition that Eisenstein helped immensely to establish.

The virile actor who portrays Nevsky, one Nikolai Cherkasov, would have fit easily into the Fellowship of the Ring. He was a born rock star (when he doesn't have his helmet on, he kind of reminds me of Dale Earnhardt Jr. for some reason), a very appealing leader whose presence, voice and body language exude command.

So I'll concede that this film is probably not Eisenstein's representative work and may not even provide a fair introduction to his true genius, but I liked it for what it was - a bold, emotive and visually arresting rabble-rouser that can truly be seen as having a significant impact on the course of human history in its preparation of a society to turn back the scourge of Nazi fascism. Regardless of the crimes and brutalities committed by the regime that exploited Eisenstein, Alexander Nevsky's legacy is one worthy of respect and appreciation.

Next: La Bete Humaine