(1929)
4
Tom Wiener
It's possible, thanks to the DVD version of Alexander Dovzhenko's Arsenal, to experience this film on two levels. On a first viewing, Dovzhenko's strong images are so emotionally wrenching that they evoke emotions even when their historical context isn't always clear. Thanks to an astute and economical audio commentary on the DVD by film historian Vance Kepley, Jr., Dovzhenko's references are made explicable without distracting from their pictorial impact. This is film narrative by shorthand, with minimal dialogue or use of narrative titles, and there is only one real character of any consequence, the uber-worker Tyrnish, played with appropriate intensity by Semen Svashenko. There's little subtlety in Dovzhenko's presentation of the issues involved in the civil war that raged in the Ukraine in 1918, but this is political filmmaking, after all. His use of folk tale motifs, including a super-human turn by Tyrnish in the final confrontation with the counter-revolutionaries, contributes to the film's aspirations to timelessness. And it's not without humor: at an organizing meeting, a worker raises his hand and is recognized by the chair. "Can we," he asks with a smile creeping over his face, "knock off the capitalists and officers in the streets if we find any?"
Arsenal on AllMovie
Arsenal (1929)
