Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin

According to our textbook, the Sergei Eisenstein vision is that “the capitalistic, Czarist system is fundamentally inhuman and inhumane, an obstacle not only to physical survival but also to human fellowship, family, and brotherhood” (Mast 162). Thus, Eisenstein’s political films sought to demonstrate the corruption of the political system of Russia and the importance of brotherhood and unity of the masses. In Battleship Potemkin, Eisenstein uses several techniques that illustrate his vision. First, he focuses on the importance of the masses and the people as a whole suffering under the Czarist regime. Secondly, he characterizes the soldiers and officers as cold-hearted people. Lastly, his editing techniques try to evoke a certain emotion in his viewers and to try to sway them against the Czarist regime.

            Eisenstein liked to focus on the masses and the people as a whole. His central character in most of his films was the masses because at that time in Russia it was the masses that suffered under the regime and were treated horribly. It wasn’t just one person who suffered, but every single person who was not of high status was treated as if he or she was an animal by the Czarist regime. One example occurs in the first part of the film entitled “People and Worms.” In this example, the officers clearly don’t care about the sailors working on their ship. To them, the sailors are just a bunch of lowlife workers who don’t deserve good meat. This is also an example of Eisenstein’s characterization of higher class people as cold-hearted people and taking advantage of the lower class.

It wasn’t until the last ten minutes that Eisenstein’s editing techniques made me feel something. Before the squadron comes into view, there’s this waiting period of what’s going to happen. Everything is quiet and calm, like before a storm. Then all of a sudden, as the squadron nears in sight everything starts to happen and it happens fast. As the sailors on the Potemkin get ready for battle with the Admiral’s squadron, I felt anxious waiting for what was going to happen next. The fast intercutting of shots and the movement of the actors on the screen added to the tension and anticipation.

All in all, what Eisenstein does in his films fulfills his vision that the Czarist regime is a cruel and brutal system that gets in the way of the people to be united in brotherhood and family. In Battle of Potemkin, Eisenstein celebrates the importance of the masses, he dehumanizes those of higher status and members of the Czarist regime, and he tries to persuade his viewers to see how horrible the Czarist regime treats its people through his unique editing techniques.