bobdunn9
Joined Aug 2002
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bobdunn9's rating
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bobdunn9's rating
Any list of great Western movies must include the native American story. This is that "missing" Western. Why include big name films with sullen, guilt-ridden white guys (Dances With Wolves, A Man Called Horse), when there is this overlooked masterpiece that takes place all within a completely native American universe?
I love how the stark winter survival scenes of the family lead to the heavenly reunion with long lost kin. This is a simple, universal story of love, family, good guys (Cheyenne) and bad guys (Crow).
I am not a Cheyenne or an anthropologist, but to me this movie looks and sounds more authentic than anything before or since.
My list of greatest Westerns in order of release: 1. Stagecoach 2. My Darling Clementine 3. Red River 4. High Noon 5. The Searchers 6. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly 7. The Wild Bunch 8. Windwalker 9. Unforgiven 10. 3:10 to Yuma
I love how the stark winter survival scenes of the family lead to the heavenly reunion with long lost kin. This is a simple, universal story of love, family, good guys (Cheyenne) and bad guys (Crow).
I am not a Cheyenne or an anthropologist, but to me this movie looks and sounds more authentic than anything before or since.
My list of greatest Westerns in order of release: 1. Stagecoach 2. My Darling Clementine 3. Red River 4. High Noon 5. The Searchers 6. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly 7. The Wild Bunch 8. Windwalker 9. Unforgiven 10. 3:10 to Yuma
Like 'The Birth of a Nation' or 'The Triumph of the Will', 'Earth' is a brilliant, groundbreaking film even if morally despicable. And in retrospect of what happened after its release, Stalin's liquidation of millions of Kulaks, its hard not to compare Dovzhenko's Marxism to Reifenstahl's fascism or Griffith's racism. Apologists for all of these filmmakers tell us to 'ignore the story' or 'ignore the propaganda'. Even the Kino DVD introduction instructs us to not take the film literally.
Perhaps instead of asking, 'Can propaganda be art?' the better question is , 'Can art transcend propaganda.' In 'Earth', I think Dovzhenko partially succeeds. The lyrical cycles of birth and death on the Ukrainian steppe are told with visual poetry. In fact, as the film goes on Dovzhenko obviously becomes uninterested in the circumstances of Vasily's murder and martyrdom for the collectivist cause. No doubt, the Soviet regime produced this film to (a) encourage collectivization against private ownership, and (b) Encourage a retro-pagan worship of agrarian life against orthodox Christianity. The collectivist vs. Kulak story in (a) is crude and unconvincing propaganda to a modern audience with historical perspective on Stalin's brutalities in the 1930's. However, it is with the fertile imagery and montage of natural cycles in (b) that Dovzhenko succeeds beautifully and transcends the story and makes it timeless.
Perhaps instead of asking, 'Can propaganda be art?' the better question is , 'Can art transcend propaganda.' In 'Earth', I think Dovzhenko partially succeeds. The lyrical cycles of birth and death on the Ukrainian steppe are told with visual poetry. In fact, as the film goes on Dovzhenko obviously becomes uninterested in the circumstances of Vasily's murder and martyrdom for the collectivist cause. No doubt, the Soviet regime produced this film to (a) encourage collectivization against private ownership, and (b) Encourage a retro-pagan worship of agrarian life against orthodox Christianity. The collectivist vs. Kulak story in (a) is crude and unconvincing propaganda to a modern audience with historical perspective on Stalin's brutalities in the 1930's. However, it is with the fertile imagery and montage of natural cycles in (b) that Dovzhenko succeeds beautifully and transcends the story and makes it timeless.