Battleship Potemkin

Released Dec 5, 1926

1h 7m

History

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

List

100%

50 Reviews

Tomatometer

86%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

When they are fed rancid meat, the sailors on the Potemkin revolt against their harsh conditions. Led by Vakulinchuk (Aleksandr Antonov), the sailors kill the officers of the ship to gain their freedom. Vakulinchuk is also killed, and the people of Odessa honor him as a symbol of revolution. Tsarist soldiers arrive and massacre the civilians to quell the uprising. A squadron of ships is sent to overthrow the Potemkin, but the ships side with the revolt and refuse to attack.

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Critics Consensus

A technical masterpiece, Battleship Potemkin is Soviet cinema at its finest, and its montage editing techniques remain influential to this day.

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Georgios M

Breathtakingly majestic, it captures absorbingly a revolution led by the crowd.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/05/23

Full Review

Elvis D

El Acorazado Potemkin no es exactamente una película para cualquiera en general, sino para aquellos que son amantes del cine o que al menos tienen algún conocimiento de La Revolución Rusa. La verdad que esta película retrata de buena manera una parte de la tiranía en Rusia y el surgimiento de la revolución. La historia va narrando los acontecimientos que llevaron al gran motín que sería un gran paso para dar comienzo a una lucha contra el imperio que dominaba Rusia en aquel entonces. Tiene un buen montaje y una buena dirección, así que no cabe duda que es una buena película en su mayoría y cumple como otra buena obra más del arte cinematográfico. Es una película bastante decente y por eso le doy un 9/10.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

04/09/23

Full Review

Heironymus B

I am stunned at what an amazing film this actually is! From the ship mutiny to the brutal staircase battle scene, this silent masterpiece deserves to be seen.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/08/22

Full Review

john d

This is a classic silent film. It has had various scores attached to it. Frequently, Shostakovich's 5th Symphony is used. The film provides a valuable look at the Russian Navy in the early part of the 20th century. It is a work of propaganda. The viewer would never know that the Russian Revolution of 1905 ended in failure from the film. In that regard, it provides valuable insight into Soviet propaganda.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Christopher B

Battleship Potemkin (1925) is a silent film that is often considered one of the most influential propaganda films as well as one of the greatest films of all time. The film is a Russian revolutionary propaganda film and involves sailors, who are treated subhuman, causing them to mutiny and stand up to their inhumane circumstances. The crew must endure many hardships in their struggle for fair treatment and go on to inspire countless others to stand up to the oppressive ways of the ruling government. The film's Director, Sergei Eisenstein, used the film as an experiment in his theories of montage and it is used in several different ways throughout the films five segments. While Eisenstein certainly isn't the only Director to use montage in his films, the emotional impact felt from these sequences are truly timeless and hugely influential. I have seen many propaganda films in my lifetime but Battleship Potemkin remains with me as such a powerful and inspiring piece of the genre in its strong and powerful message. Much of the flow and feel of the film is reminiscence of the propaganda genre but the original use of montage is on display in the film and while elaborated on in later films, is the most pivotal in Battleship Potemkin. At times the film may come off to some as preachy or very direct but in terms of propaganda films it gets the message across with set pieces that are edited together using montage to great effect, both visually and emotionally. As a propaganda film it uses the plea to basic human rights and liberties to show the audience its message in a very real way. At the core of every propaganda film is a desire to express a message and to portray it in such a way as to inspire those that stand for the cause and convince or plea to the hearts of those that don't yet. The emotional pull touches each and every viewer with its depiction of innocence and fairness being taken away from the citizens and even military personnel. The film does a very good job of balancing the message of the film with just letting the events play out and the viewer making a decision on the matter themselves. Battleship Potemkin is one of the greatest films and remains such nearly ninety years later due to its wonderful balance and dramatic use of montage by the films gifted Director. To truly appreciate it's brilliance you have to view the film and make your own analysis of the message and the film lets you do this without prompting you with bias agendas. What an amazing feat for cinema in 1925 and is still today considered an essential piece of film history. Truly shocking and graphic for the day, the film is filled with tense and gripping imagery and a score that follows closely to really build the tension. The red flag, which was hand colored onto the original negative was an amazing symbolic image that really added something special to the film and it's message! Highly Recommended if you are into film and want to know one of the most influential and loved films of all time!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/21/22

Full Review

Audience Member

The worst 01 hour: and 07 minutes of silent war footage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

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Sergei M. Eisenstein

Director

Aleksandr Antonov

Grigory Vakulinchuk

Vladimir Barskiy

Commander Golikov

Grigoriy Aleksandrov

Chief Officer Giliarovsky

Mikhail Gomorov

Militant Sailor

Repnikova

Woman on the Steps

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Wilella Waldorf

New York Post

Potemkin tells, with a good deal of striking detail and with considerable pictorial effectiveness, a stern narrative of mutiny and revolt.

Oct 8, 2020

Full Review

Pamela Hutchinson

Guardian

Because Battleship Potemkin is an appeal to fellow-feeling and collective action, it is only right that the restoration work creates a more immersive film, one that places no barriers between a 21st-century audience and its monumentally powerful imagery.

Mar 18, 2020

Full Review

Robert Herring

Guardian

The thing that matters is that Soviet [cinema], while being propagandist, contains a use of all the different branches of film-making which is recognised and practised in no other country.

Dec 12, 2015

Full Review

Brian Susbielles

InSession Film

Eisenstein relies on editing to create the action, a theory of montage copied in other films...

Mar 8, 2023

Full Review

Edwin Seaver

The New Masses

Potemkin is a complete break from anything hitherto known in the art of the motion picture.

Apr 10, 2020

Full Review

Don Ray

Los Angeles Free Press

What was once the darling of the cinematic few has become the masterpiece of the masses (you should pardon the expression).

Jan 8, 2020

Full Review

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Synopsis

When they are fed rancid meat, the sailors on the Potemkin revolt against their harsh conditions. Led by Vakulinchuk (Aleksandr Antonov), the sailors kill the officers of the ship to gain their freedom. Vakulinchuk is also killed, and the people of Odessa honor him as a symbol of revolution. Tsarist soldiers arrive and massacre the civilians to quell the uprising. A squadron of ships is sent to overthrow the Potemkin, but the ships side with the revolt and refuse to attack.

Director: Sergei M. Eisenstein
Screenwriter: Nina Agadzhanova, Nikolay Aseev, Sergei M. Eisenstein, Sergei Tretyakov
Distributor: Amkino Corporation, Reel Media International [us], Grapevine Video, Image Entertainment Inc.
Production Co: Goskino
Genre: History, Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: Russian
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 5, 1926, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 15, 2008
Box Office (Gross USA): $51.0K
Runtime: 1h 7m
Aspect Ratio: Academy (1.33:1)

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