Zemlja
Directed by:
Alexander DovzhenkoScreenplay:
Alexander DovzhenkoPlots(1)
This much lauded pioneering Russian silent film is seen as Ukrainian director Dovzhenko’s best film and often appears on critics international top ten film lists. Dovzhenko was commissioned to make what was intended to be a minor propaganda film to encourage the establishment of farming collectives. Set in the Ukraine it tells of the struggle between the peasants and the kulak, the local landlord. In order to stand up to the opposition, the peasants form a committee headed by Vasili to collectivise the land and stock. They buy a tractor to tear down the fences dividing land, but triumph soon turns to tragedy. The final work in a loose trilogy that also comprises Zvenigora (1928) and Arsenal (1929), Earth is Dovzhenko's celebration of life and an ultimate prayer to nature, the land and those who toil on it. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (1)
An intriguing connection between life and death, the new and the old, and humans and nature. You don’t see that every day. At first glance, it may seem like an agitational film, and perhaps it is to some extent, but it's important to realize that even Soviet censorship had a hand in it. Dovzhenko made a film that is about life, specifically a harsh lot in life. The connection with nature is not an ecological outcry, but rather natural harmony.
()