53: Earth

Zemlya

USSR  75m  Dir: Aleksandr Dovzhenko

I was really pleased to finally watch a Soviet-era film that I enjoyed. It’s still propaganda to an extent but there’s an ambiguity to it that makes it more interesting and upset some elements of the Communist Party.

In a rural community there is a reluctance to begin collective farming but Basil turns up with a tractor and they start making bread. It’s all very successful and Basil celebrates but is then murdered.

The film exists as a way to promote collective farming and the general Soviet concept that things are better if everyone works together. Through the use of montage we see the process of the bread-making and it’s made to look hugely successful and appealing. It’s fascinating though that the murderer is given a moment to speak out against this idea (even if he is not heard by the other characters) and isn’t even punished.

Basil’s father organises an atheist funeral that hundreds of people attend whilst an orthodox priest condemns them and asks God to smite them. It’s another example of this film daring to show both viewpoints and not really declaring that one is better than the other. It’s always clear what the viewpoint of the film is but there’s just an element of doubt that makes it more interesting and suggests that things aren’t necessarily as black and white as the government might suggest.

The film is also beautifully shot with some many stunning images of the rural USSR. There’s what fields and stampeding horses and rainfall on fruit and it all looks incredible. As much as I liked the look I couldn’t help but feel that many of these shots were lingered on for far too long and often similar shots were repeated. This just slowed the pace of the film right down and felt a bit like a filmmaker showing off.

A fascinating film with a less straightforward ideology of other soviet films of its time.