Mother

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Mother

1926

1h 24m

History

Drama

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100%

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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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Otis Ferguson

The New Republic

It provides an experience that should open a few rather sleepy eyes to the artistic possibilities more and more being realized in this medium.

Jan 22, 2024

Full Review

Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

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]

Rated: 7/10

Jun 19, 2021

Full Review

Mattie Lucas

From the Front Row

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.

Rated: 4/4

Apr 9, 2020

Full Review

David Bax

Battleship Pretension

...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.

Apr 3, 2020

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Jesús Fernández Santos

El Pais (Spain)

The film achieves a perfect equilibrium between a lyrical metaphor and a heroic prose. [Full Review in Spanish]

Jul 29, 2019

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Audience Member

Fairly epic, though also quite depressing.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/16/23

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Audience Member

Classic Soviet propaganda film with stunning cinematography.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

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Audience Member

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.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

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Audience Member

I prefer later Pudovkin.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

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Audience Member

Hmm....I actually love Soviet film now....interesting

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

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Audience Member

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.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

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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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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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