Essay Based on Film “Alexander Nevsky” free essay sample

Essay based on film â€Å"Alexander Nevsky†(1938) Film †Alexander Nevsky† directed by Sergei Eisenstein is regarded as masterpiece of Soviet cinematograph. The main idea is quite simple – confrontation between Russian folk and the invaders, Teutonic knights. The film is based on battle on the lake Chudskoe, where Alexander and his army defeated armies of enemy. Watching the film, we can notice that structure is very clear, events are linear, all characters are completed, they either good or bad. Topic of good and evil is strongly marked here – no halftones, spectator from the beginning knows who he should support. Historical topic here is used as a tool, not a goal itself – eventually only winning of simple people over foreign enemy counts. We can not discuss the choice of such historical event without analyze the atmosphere of 1930s. There was a premonition of war and Stalin needed to pull together simple folks, that is why in film much attention is paid to unity of people against Germans. So we can say that history here plays a role of canvas which producer fills with proper ideas. The most important one is struggle of great Russian folk against invaders till the victory. This nationalistic message is very effective, it provokes special feelings about your native country (Rodina) and nowadays Russians respond about this film as â€Å"patriotic masterpiece†. The main character that sets a tone of movie is Alexander Nevsky. We can see courageous, brave, strong Prince that can defend country. At the beginning of film he speaks with representatives of Mongols – another, Eastern invader. Even there, as a Prince of conquered country, he stands very strong and confident, and spectator starts to feel respect to him at the beginning already. On the other hand, he acts like a simple person – he does fishing with peasants, wears simple clothes, sleeps with his troops. Alexander is not only a Prince here; he is leader of simple people that worry about their country. Such closeness to simple folk is an expression of socialistic view, as I think, especially if we compare his character with Novgorod bourgeoisies. They are opposite characters, they wear rich clothes, stand above people. Their phrase ‘Everyone stands only for himself. Wherever you slept, there is your native land† in meeting in Novgorod shows that these people do not think about anything but their benefit and themselves and they do not care about destiny of Russian people and land. There is a betrayer among them that proves an idea of rottenness of these people. No wonder that simple folk choose Alexander as its defender, the man they respect. Another episode when Novgorod citizens are going to the battle also shows us the idea of socialism. People do everything together, they are inspired by a big idea of resistance, and blacksmith gives everyone weapon for free: he is just as simple man as others and he understands that his â€Å"brothers† need weapon in order to win enemy. This idea of social unity and equality is feature of socialistic view. This image of blacksmith in the film is quite popular among Soviet nationalistic movies. Here he is, a small representative of great folk, poor but inspired and brave, he knows many Russian sayings and he is very positive and cheerful. His death from mean betrayer shows us the idea of simple people suffering from evil forces. His last words â€Å"chain armor is too short†¦Ã¢â‚¬  point again that he was just a â€Å"small man† – he did not think about vengeance, war, enemies, he is sorry about short armor and missing opportunity of fighting. The vengeance for him and hid died â€Å"brothers† is harsh – people beat murderer to death. Folk answers to its enemies for all deaths. This event is also important – Alexander does not leave the opportunity to judge, but lets it to people, as he understands that these people suffer more from actions of betrayer and catholic monk and they should decide their destiny. Speaking about enemies, Teutonic knights are represented as cruel and ruthless army, they have different religion and horrible rituals there – the scene where knight puts children into fire, perhaps, is the most scary in the film. And spectators start to hate these cruel invaders. Entourage plays its role too. Teutonic army is mostly silent, with angry faces and depressive music is always played when they are on the screen. On the contrary Russians are very inspired and passionate, they fight with laugh and we can hear Russian folk music during several scenes of the battle. Love line of movie is quite simple. Two brave men, Vasili Buslai and Gavrilo Oleksich, compete for a heart of Olga Danilovna. But she says that will choose only the bravest one. This concept is similar to Russian folk fairytales, where brave characters fight against evil monsters. Here they fight against German enemies and eventually everyone finds his love. So the idea is quite simple, but it fits the main nationalistic view and makes film diverse. Characterizing film, I think that we should define another big character – the folk itself. Of course, there are many small characters that somehow manifest themselves, but all these peasants create a complete character, that is strong and brave. And relation between Alexander and folk are equal, they respect each other. This idea of folk as a concrete character seems to be socialistic too, where simple people are in charge. In conclusion I will make a short summary – in the historical topic of film there is a great nationalistic idea of resistance of Russian people from enemies. Along the movie we can see also socialistic ideas of social equality and power of simple folk. So when it is analyzed it does not seem to have any value – just simple nationalistic film with primitive ideas. Well, maybe someone gets such opinion, but I think that this film has its right to be considered as one of the greatest movies and masterpiece. Because I think it is very difficult – using such simple plot and being under the pressure of the party, to create beautiful movie with strong actors and wonderful music accompaniment, but Eisenstein did it.