In STRIKE Eisensein glorifies the noble downtrodden worker against the greedy , uncaring capitalist rulers . From the very first opening scene of the film he uses the concept of typage where the ruling director is portrayed as being overweight and well dressed lazily reclining in a comfortable chair . Right from the opening shot it's obvious whose side Eisenstein wants the audience to take . Later on we see more stockholders and the audience are told in the inter-titles that " Their thrones rest on the labour of the workers " . As the workers strike one of the ring leaders proclaims " We have no cowards or traitors among us . We will stand by our demands till the end " . The end being Tsarist police attacking the protesting workers , sending a toddler falling to its death while the action is inter-cut with a laughing police chief against the back drop of dead strikers massacred by the Tsarist police
All this can be criticised as seeing the world as black and white , but let's be honest here: When was the last time you watched an American film where the concept of good and bad have been blurred ? Seeing as the " bad guys " won you could say that it's not very entertaining but as the director himself said film should not be used as entertainment this makes him something of an auteur and did you know Russians don't like stories with a happy ending ?
Perhaps not as good as POTEMKIN this is still a landmark of cinema . You might not agree with the politics but I'm sure we can all agree that it's a technically superb piece of film making
All this can be criticised as seeing the world as black and white , but let's be honest here: When was the last time you watched an American film where the concept of good and bad have been blurred ? Seeing as the " bad guys " won you could say that it's not very entertaining but as the director himself said film should not be used as entertainment this makes him something of an auteur and did you know Russians don't like stories with a happy ending ?
Perhaps not as good as POTEMKIN this is still a landmark of cinema . You might not agree with the politics but I'm sure we can all agree that it's a technically superb piece of film making