The groundwork for Sergei Eisenstein's classic movie was laid out in his earlier debut, April 1925's "Strike." The director demonstrated for the first time his collection of super-quick edits and intellectual montages emphasizing the workers' collective movements to stop work and go on strike in what they considered repressive factory conditions. As in Eisenstein's early movies, "Strike's" focus is not on one magnanimous hero. He looks at humanity's problems and solutions as a group and not dependent on any particular solitary strong-willed leader.
"Strike" opens with an overview of a factory that's all machines. Workers are just one cog in the factory's mechanism of producing material. But when some machines get gummed up, all engines stop. That's when the employees decide to go on strike. Eisenstein has learned his lessons well from D. W. Griffith as he uses animals as metaphors for people and events to emphasize their objectives and helplessness. The Soviet director also illustrates the contrast between the fat cats of the factory's owners and management (reflective of the Czarist ruling system) and the poorly-paid workers in a Griffith traditional cross-cutting sequence. But as in "Battleship Potemkin," Eisenstein learned that a movie should consist more than just purely chaotic montages. He does on occasion take breathers in his films, including "Strike," to slow down the pace, to lengthen his clips to reflect the quiet domestically of the workers' home life and family pleasures. This highlights the fact people are willing to labor for a fair day's wages without the constant brutality doled out by the factories' owners and management.
"Strike's" finale is a dress rehearsal for his famous "Battleship Potemkin's" Odessa steps slaughter. Governmental troops converge on the factory strikers and herd them down a long wooded hill, firing on the unarmed workers. Eisenstein cross-cuts the immense killing of the workers with the butchering of a cow. The two images create a heightened effect that standing alone would not convey the kind of carnage taking place on that hillside. Frances Ford Capola was inspired to use a similar image at the conclusion of his 1980 "Apocalypse Now."
"Strike" was hailed as a commendable achievement for the first-time director. It is the earliest Russian entrant in "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" reference book.
"Strike" opens with an overview of a factory that's all machines. Workers are just one cog in the factory's mechanism of producing material. But when some machines get gummed up, all engines stop. That's when the employees decide to go on strike. Eisenstein has learned his lessons well from D. W. Griffith as he uses animals as metaphors for people and events to emphasize their objectives and helplessness. The Soviet director also illustrates the contrast between the fat cats of the factory's owners and management (reflective of the Czarist ruling system) and the poorly-paid workers in a Griffith traditional cross-cutting sequence. But as in "Battleship Potemkin," Eisenstein learned that a movie should consist more than just purely chaotic montages. He does on occasion take breathers in his films, including "Strike," to slow down the pace, to lengthen his clips to reflect the quiet domestically of the workers' home life and family pleasures. This highlights the fact people are willing to labor for a fair day's wages without the constant brutality doled out by the factories' owners and management.
"Strike's" finale is a dress rehearsal for his famous "Battleship Potemkin's" Odessa steps slaughter. Governmental troops converge on the factory strikers and herd them down a long wooded hill, firing on the unarmed workers. Eisenstein cross-cuts the immense killing of the workers with the butchering of a cow. The two images create a heightened effect that standing alone would not convey the kind of carnage taking place on that hillside. Frances Ford Capola was inspired to use a similar image at the conclusion of his 1980 "Apocalypse Now."
"Strike" was hailed as a commendable achievement for the first-time director. It is the earliest Russian entrant in "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" reference book.