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Mother

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100% Tomatometer 5 Reviews 77% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
Naïve person that she is, Pelageya (Vera Baranovskaya) can't undertand why her son (Nikolai Batajov) is organizing a workers' strike, while her boorish husband (Aleksandr Chistyakov) is trying to suppress it. When the latter is killed, Pelageya unwittingly gives up her son to the authorities, and is horrified when he is sent to jail. Gradually, as she begins to understand her son's ideological position, she commits herself to the revolutionary cause and fights to free her son.
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Mother

Critics Reviews

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Otis Ferguson The New Republic 01/22/2024
It provides an experience that should open a few rather sleepy eyes to the artistic possibilities more and more being realized in this medium. Go to Full Review Yasser Medina Cinefilia 06/19/2021
7/10
Pudovkin's debut feature takes advantage of the possibilities of ideological montage to revise Russian historical memory and, to a certain extent, magnify the Soviet propaganda it frames through the social condition of peasants. [Full review in Spanish] Go to Full Review Mattie Lucas From the Front Row 04/09/2020
4/4
The climactic scene, in which the mother stands alone against charging Czarist forces, her flag held high and defiant, is one of the most deeply moving images in all Soviet cinema. Go to Full Review David Bax Battleship Pretension 04/03/2020
...Pudovkin builds tension, character and sympathy through editing, be it the fast-paced fades that seem to usher contrasting forces inexorably toward conflict or the deliberately slowed down sections that anxiously await an explosion of violence. Go to Full Review Jesús Fernández Santos El Pais (Spain) 07/29/2019
The film achieves a perfect equilibrium between a lyrical metaphor and a heroic prose. [Full Review in Spanish] Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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10/23/2011 Fairly epic, though also quite depressing. See more 04/24/2011 Classic Soviet propaganda film with stunning cinematography. See more 03/31/2011 I think it's the oldest film I see over 85 years spent now. So , it's unfair to judge it without putting it in its era, historical moment & the primitive nature of cinema equipments which I found bold at that time to shoot the horses running very closely near the end of the film. Seems like Gorky's novel was revolutionary or representing the revolution at that time. See more 01/05/2011 I prefer later Pudovkin. See more 09/28/2010 Hmm....I actually love Soviet film now....interesting See more 06/11/2010 Gritty silent Russian drama about a mother's political awakening starting with the death of her husband and strengthened by her son's involvement in same. Its themes are well-explored, but it doesn't quite have enough plot or poetic imagery to justify its length. See more Read all reviews
Mother

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Cast & Crew

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V.I. Pudovkin

Director

Vera Baranovskaya

Niovna Vlasova

Aleksandr Chistyakov

Vlasov

Nikolai Batajov

Pavel Vlasov

Ivan Koval-Samborsky

Vessovchtchnikov

Vsevolod Pudovkin

Police Officer
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Mother

Mother (1926) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Naïve person that she is, Pelageya (Vera Baranovskaya) can't undertand why her son (Nikolai Batajov) is organizing a workers' strike, while her boorish husband (Aleksandr Chistyakov) is trying to suppress it. When the latter is killed, Pelageya unwittingly gives up her son to the authorities, and is horrified when he is sent to jail. Gradually, as she begins to understand her son's ideological position, she commits herself to the revolutionary cause and fights to free her son.
Director
V.I. Pudovkin
Genre
History, Drama
Release Date (Streaming)
Feb 25, 2020
Runtime
1h 24m
Sound Mix
Surround
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