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Earth

Play trailer Poster for Earth 1930 1h 3m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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75% Tomatometer 16 Reviews 71% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
This impressionistic silent Russian film follows the trials and tribulations of farmers on a collective who come into conflict with more affluent "kulak" landowners. Led by Vasili (Semyon Savshenko), the farmers pool their resources to buy a tractor, a triumphant development that soon yields to tragedy. Despite the hardships that they face, the farmers press on, with their connection to the land evident in the film's many moments of scenic rural beauty.

Critics Reviews

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J. Hoberman Village Voice 10/23/2007
The astonishingly beautiful Earth is unlike anything else in movies. Go to Full Review
Mordaunt Hall New York Times 01/28/2006
Much of this film is chaotic, especially during the church episode and some of the closing scenes. Go to Full Review
Geoff Andrew Time Out 01/26/2006
A very great film indeed. Go to Full Review
Alexander Bakshy The Nation 03/01/2022
There is no denying, of course, the extraordinary power of Dovzhenko’s imagination, but it seems rather late in the day to bring out of the symbolist bag such ancient devices as the masklike face and the stylized movement. Go to Full Review
J.N. Thomas Berkeley Barb 05/12/2021
Dovzhenko was a poet of nature, a radical mystic more akin to Blake than Marx, and in this film this love is dramatized in images of tremendous power. Go to Full Review
Harry Alan Potamkin The New Masses 01/14/2020
It extends the message of collectivism farther into the province of the reflective, whither the film the world over must inherently progress. But in moving to the reflective, it becomes too personal a meditation... Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Alexander B 02/03/2023 This film is a terrific look at the life of peasants in Russia. The cinematography is beautiful and holds up well. See more 11/21/2021 This is an outstanding Ukrainian film, which began the international recognition of Oleksandr Dovzhenko. Andrei Tarkovsky calls "Earth" the key work of world cinema that influenced him. Bernardo Bertolucci believed that only Jean Renoir and Oleksandr Dovzhenko were able to express the full depth of meanings associated with the theme of man and nature. According to P.P.Pasolini, C.Lizzani, F.Mazelli and other masters of Italian cinema, Dovzhenko influenced the development of neorealism. See more 02/27/2021 "Earth" is not russian, but ukrainian film. It is important. Fix it, please. And so Dovzhenko is ukrainian director, so it should be "Olexandr" instead of "Alexander" ("Alexander" is russian form). Thoughts about Dovzhenko being russian is nothing more, than russian propaganda and you shouldn't promote it. See more William L 01/31/2021 Controversial in the USSR for depicting a view of communism that wasn't necessarily the simplistic party ideology of "us vs. the capitalists", Earth actually succeeds due in large part to its divergence from propaganda standards, depicting a narrative in which collectivism is presented in accordance with nature and humanitarian principles. There is still a strict adherence to party lines, with technological advances being presented as a champion of dynamic social change, along with the reduced influence of religion, but there is also a very natural element brought to life by the vivid depictions of wheat fields and orchards that was often not considered in a political order that placed most of its focus on change, modernization, and novelty. Often flounting conventional narrative progression and opting for the Soviet montage editing style, Earth creates a unique identity even compared to Eisenstein and the other Soviet avant garde propagandists; it often has a somewhat surreal, dreamlike quality that would only be rediscovered decades later in the works of directors such as Tarkovsky. Makes me want to watch some more Dovzhenko. (4/5) See more s r @ScottR 01/15/2018 1001 movies to see before you die. It was certainly artistic, but the plot was confusing. Powerful visuals. See more 05/20/2016 Earth is silent-era communist propaganda that achieves its near-masterpiece status with its beautiful photography and pioneering editing. See more Read all reviews
Earth

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Movie Info

Synopsis This impressionistic silent Russian film follows the trials and tribulations of farmers on a collective who come into conflict with more affluent "kulak" landowners. Led by Vasili (Semyon Savshenko), the farmers pool their resources to buy a tractor, a triumphant development that soon yields to tragedy. Despite the hardships that they face, the farmers press on, with their connection to the land evident in the film's many moments of scenic rural beauty.
Director
Alexander Dovshenko
Genre
Drama
Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 8, 1930, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters)
Oct 17, 1930
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 7, 2018
Runtime
1h 3m