Earth (1930) by Alexander Dovzhenko

At university many years back, I gained a deep love of silent films mostly it has to be said of films like "The cabinet of Dr. Caligari", "Metropolis" and "Nosferatu". One I hadn't seen for many years since then and will be the first a series of brief reviews is the 1930 film "Earth" by Alexander Dovzhenko, a Ukrainian director (August 29] 1894 – November 25, 1958) and is the third part of Dovzhenko's "Ukraine Trilogy" (along with Zvenigora and Arsenal which I think I saw at the same time). I won't give too much with the plot as it is a study of the process of collectivzation and the hostility of Kulak landowners and I can understand why it caused somewhat of a controversy at the time. Wikiapedia to quote them describe the film as "The political and historic events of Earth and the agricultural developments of Dovzhenko's home country of Soviet Ukraine was a hot topic during the film's production and laid the foundation of the controversy that the film's release caused..... The local Kulaks were more militant and committed violent acts against Soviet officials. Most Ukrainians wanted to keep their private land, especially since compared to many other parts of Russia their land was agriculturally rich and fertile. In the middle of the political conflict surrounding this topic, Dovzhenko made a lyrical and poetic film depicting the lives of Ukrainian farmers that many Soviet officials considered completely inappropriate. Out of respect for a friends I have who are from Russia, I'll keep out of the politics and instead the slowness and imagery in the film which is something I haven't come across before in silent films at that point when I first watched in 2001, and still haunts me to this day where it feels more like a documentary than a film, and proved not as easy to watch as I was expecting to watch. Respect to Dovzhenko however for creating a challenging film which had one critic at the time describing it at the time as "ideologically vicious" which I'll leave for you yo decide for yourself but it is not a easy film to watch and I am always believe that makes it great cinema. Whether it is a art statement or a film, that is another question and one is best left for yourself to decide. 8.5/10

The film can be seen for free at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuO6EtU-59w