Title: Earth
Year: 1930
Director: Alexsander Dovzhenko
Country: Ukraine
Language: N/A
Alexsander Dovzhenko's Earth has been hailed as a masterpiece of silent cinema for over half a century. Dovzhenko, considered cinema's "Poet of The Ukraine", shot this picture in the Ukranian city Poltava with cinematographer Danylo Demutsky. The film is anti-authority to its core; Stalin wanted collectivization & Divzhenko created a picture that opposed it.
Earth is about peasants owning their own land and tilling it as they please, for themselves, and the problems they come across in the process. It is anti-Soviet because it explores the many issues that come with revolution.
"Collectivization" was Joseph Stalin's attempt to control agriculture as the Soviet Union industrialized. This meant breaking the power of the landowners ("kulaks"), consolidating individual land, and making collective farms with high yield quotas. The collectivization policies made everyone poorer, lead to lower production levels and ultimately resulted in the Ukranian holocaust known as Holodomor.
Opening with shots of ripening wheat fields, rippling in the wind of the Ukrainian steppe, Earth is full of beautiful, poetic cinematography that highlights the natural imagery of the Ukraine countryside. The vast plains and dark skies, combined with innovative use of close-ups & long shots give this picture a very dream-like quality. This is a snapshot of Ukraine before Russia got their greasy hands on it.
The editing is remarkable, giving Earth a very avant-garde feel, The narrative, though disorienting due to various montages, highlights the humanity of the kulaks and proves to be a powerful force for humanity.
Perhaps intended to be propaganda, Earth was too artsty and ambiguous for the Soviets to embrace. One film critic at the time deplored it for being a “kulak film,” and wrote: “Counter-revolutionary obscenity! That’s how low we have sunk." Earth truly is a beautiful film. See it to upset Putin!
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