Earth (1930 film)
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| Earth | |
 Film poster |
|
| Directed by | Alexander Dovzhenko |
|---|---|
| Written by | Alexander Dovzhenko |
| Starring | Stepan Shkurat Semyon Svashenko Yuliya Solntseva Yelena Maksimova Nikolai Nademsky |
| Music by | Levko Revutsky Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov |
| Cinematography | Danylo Demutsky |
| Editing by | Alexander Dovzhenko |
| Release date(s) |  April 8, 1930 October 17, 1930 |
| Running time | 76 min. |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Language | Silent film Russian intertitles |
Earth (Russian: Земля, translit. Zemlya; literally translated as "Soil") is a 1930 Soviet film by Ukrainian director Alexander Dovzhenko concerning an insurrection by a community of farmers, following a hostile takeover by Kulak landowners. It is Part 3 of Dovzhenko's "Ukraine Trilogy" (along with Zvenigora and Arsenal).
Earth was simultaneously lauded and derided by Soviet authorities due to its fairly ambiguous political message. Soviet influence is clear if one looks for it, particularly in the nearness to the "earth" of the peasants, but exactly why or how the symbol functions is unclear. Indeed, the film also deals with subjects such as death, destruction, and poverty.
Earth is usually considered Dovzhenko's best film, and is often cited alongside Eisenstein's The Battleship Potemkin (1925) as one of the most important films of the Soviet era.
It was named #88 in the 1995 Centenary Poll of the 100 Best Films of the Century in Time Out Magazine. The film was also voted one of the ten greatest films of all time by a group of 117 film historians at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair[1] and named one of the top ten greatest films of all time by the International Film Critics Symposium.[2]
The starting scene of Earth, showing an old man dying among pear trees, probably influenced the music video of the 1994 Enigma song Return to Innocence.[3]
[edit] Cast
- Stepan Shkurat — Opanas (as S. Shkurat)
- Semyon Svashenko — Vasili 'Basil' Opanas (as S. Svashenko)
- Yuliya Solntseva — Vasili's sister (as Yu. Solntseva)
- Yelena Maksimova — Natalya, Vasili's fiancee (as Ye. Maksimova)
- Nikolai Nademsky — Semyon 'Simon' Opanas (as N. Nademsky)
- Ivan Franko — Arkhip Whitehorse, Khoma's father (as I. Franko)
- Pyotr Masokha — Khoma 'Thomas' Whitehorse (as P. Masokha)
- Vladimir Mikhajlov — Village priest (as V. Mikhajlov)
- Pavel Petrik — Young party-cell leader (as P. Petrik)
- P. Umanets — Chairman of the village Farm Soviet
[edit] References
- ^ "Trivia for Zemlya (1930)". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021571/trivia. Retrieved on 2008-11-02.
- ^ "MRC FilmFinder-Full Record: Earth". http://www.lib.unc.edu/house/mrc/films/full.php?film_id=5592. Retrieved on 2008-11-02.
- ^ Ed Gonzalez (2004-02-03). "Film Review: Earth". Slant Magazine. http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/film_review.asp?ID=973. Retrieved on 2008-11-02.
[edit] External links
- Earth at the Internet Movie Database
- Earth at Allmovie
- Ray Uzwyshyn's Visual Exploration of Earth Earth (1930): Philosophy, Iconology, Collectivization
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