Central Character Of Eisenstein's Films example essay topic
His geometric compositions are never static. The individual shots are full of dynamic movements. He does edit the shots together but sees each frame as a unit with dynamic charge of one frame into conflict with the charge of the next. Although the central character of Eisenstein's films are the mass, he never forgets that the mass consist of individuals. He invariably shows the viewer the impassioned faces of men and women. In his film the Battleship of Potemkin (1925), he uses all of these techniques.
The theme gets its flesh from Eisenstein's depiction of the people who embody it. In the first act "Men and Maggots" the workers meat is infested with maggots. The Czarist doctor looks at the meat closely with his glasses to magnify and claims the meat is wholesome. Eisenstien stresses the workers pain by filming the muscles of a workers back as he sobs. In the second act, the men rf use to admit their food is edible and rebel. This leads to a violent sequence and finally the ship belongs to the workers.
One sailor has been killed in the battle that leads to the third act, "Appeal from the Dead". The workers fil pass it as his body lies in state on the shore. This section of the film moves very slowly as Eisenstein emphases how the dead mans actions touches and unites the people of Odessa. He evokes our sympathies with loving shots of the sorrowing faces. In the fourth act, Odessa Steps", Eisenstein creates the horror of the slaughter with the individual reactions of the people of Odessa. The workers race out to the Potemkin in their boats carrying food to the workers on the ship.
Other Odessan's watch and wave from the shore. Suddenly, Czarist troops open fire at the men, women, children, and old. A mothers son was shot and falls on the steps. People are walking on him. Eisenstien closely focuses on the little boys hand as people are stepping on him. In the fifth act everyone reunites.
Both ships are waving to eachother and cheering because they were not ordered to fight eachother. As a viewer i was relieved to see this that there would not be another battle and innocent lives lost. The sailors looked so happy and grateful to not have fought. Unlike the Odessa Steps where it leaves you in such a rage and upset at the same time. But i think that was what Eisenstein was trying to do. To feel what the characters were feeling.