Eisenstein apparently said that the film should have a new soundtrack for every decade to complement his imagery, which has remained so fresh and vivid...
Neil Tennant, Pet Shop Boy
From the West End to the Odessa Steps is a long way
and yet there’s clearly an affinity between the lads from North Shields and
Blackpool with the location and its most famous representation on film in
Sergei Eisenstein’s ground-breaking film. The duo were originally commissioned
to write a score for in 2003 and Neil Tennant describes his and co-writer Chris
Lowe’s view that the film represented a romantic notion of a “good revolution”
that chimed with a time when many in the West were looking for positive change
and peace. Twenty years later and we are ever more in need of giving peace a
chance and this release is as timely as ever, were you to share the view of its
call to flip the revolutionary/evolutionary coin one more time.
In 1925, Soviet Russia was a quite different place to
the country that was to emerge after years of Stalin’s eventual dictatorship
and bloodletting in the name of progress. It was less than a year after the
death of Lenin and the country was less restricted and controlled than it was
going to be. There were still elections for example and this year the Communist
Party’s share of the vote fell from 88% to 66% of the Moscow Soviet with
2,554 Communists and 1,308 members of other parties. Even this was described by
the New York Times as a better result than the Bolsheviks had expected
given “… the silent struggle between the Soviet Government and the peasants…”.
Culturally, there was still the need to revisit the reasons for the revolution and the Tsarist injustices that led to someone like Stalin spending half of his life as a penniless revolutionary in and out of prison and exile battling against a regime that was desperate to modernise but also intent on suppressing the freedom of expression and intellectualism which went hand in hand with education. Born twenty years after the Georgian Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili, who grew up in genuine poverty, the bourgeois Sergei Eisenstein was also dedicated to the cause, leaving his studies in the former St Petersburg to join the Red Army in early 1918.
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The post-revolutionary Russian Civil War was to largely over by 1922 with the defeat of the Ukrainian and Caucasus separatists but with as much as 12
million casualties, the Revolution was far from secure. Eisenstein had begun working in the theatre and film
producing propagandist material during his time in the army and by the
twentieth anniversary of the 1905 uprising, having already made the full-length feature Strike (1924), was commissioned by the All-Russian
Central Executive Committee to make a film of one of the key moments of that
revolt.
The Soviet Union had only just been established in December
1922 and, following Lenin’s death, a troika was established to rule consisting
of Deputy Premier Lev Kamenev, Comintern Chairman Grigory Zinoviev and General
Secretary Stalin. The former two stepped down in spring 1925 in
opposition to Stalin’s isolationist doctrine of “Socialism in One Country”
which also alienated Trotsky and those who believed in the more Marxist purity
of permanent revolution… Stalin would still take the rest of the decade to
cement his position as dictator and the rest is murderous history on an unprecedented scale but, at this
point, the revolution was still to be celebrated and it’s purpose restated for
a war-weary populace who could still express themselves through the ballot box
for the Third Congress of the Soviets of the USSR, which still featured a
choice.
So, this film is very much of 1925 as much as it is
about 1905 and, as Mr Tennant says, is a tribute to the people and their solidarity in resistance. Battleship
Potemkin remains one of the most controlled of films with precise rhythms that still carry force and which still catches the viewer off guard with even
Joseph Goebbels later admiringly declaring that no one with any pre-existing
political leaning could watch it without wanting to become a Bolshevik. One of the
reasons for this is its restraint, with the naval commanders and the Cossacks bad
and brutal enough but believably so: only following the orders of a failing
regime. But what really works is Eisenstein’s portrayal of the ordinary
individuals caught up in these events`- people who had no option but to make a
stance against intolerable conditions and a regime blind to the suffering of
its own people.
The men of the Potemkin represent Russia in microcosm living
in institutionalized poverty, cramped together in hanging bunks, exhausted from
the failed war against Japan and fed maggot-ridden rations. Tempers boil up and
the captain calls his company to a meeting during which a line is drawn and he
orders his troops to execute the ringleaders. In a tense face-off, communicated
through the rapid cuts and escalating tension that is Eisenstein’s trademark,
the marines cannot fire on their comrades… the mutiny begins.
The men run riot and soon gain the upper hand by throwing
the officers overboard. Soon the red flag flies over the ship but not long
after their leader Vakulinchuk (Aleksandr Antonov) is gunned down, shot from
behind by Commander Golikov (Vladimir Barsky). His body hangs grotesquely from
the rigging before falling limp into the murky waters: the revolt has its first
martyr.
Free of naval authority, the crew, now led by Chief Officer
Giliarovsky (Grigori Aleksandrov), take the Potemkin to Odessa. They are
welcomed by the people of the town who come to pay their respects to
Vakulinchuk. There are lingering shots of his body holding a candle and the
masses staring in awe at the dead man – every new system needs to celebrate the
fallen and there are obvious echoes of Lenin’s recent demise and subsequent
display in death.
Celebrations soon shift to panic with the troops massing in
line to shoot down the men women and children on the Odessa Steps. The camera
tracks alongside the soldiers’ murderous march placing the viewer in the centre
of the tragedy hoping for the survival of each individual highlighted in the
slaughter. The soldiers force the people down the steps and towards the
welcoming blades of mounted Cossacks… there is no mercy in this symbolic display
of the reality of uprising and reprisal.
The Tsar may have regained control but Russian society was
changed for ever after the 1905 Revolution and the lessons of solidarity in the
face of state oppression were not forgotten. In the absence of any significant
changes, Tsar Nicholas quickly backtracking on any concessions, the revenge of
the intellectual classes and the proletariat was inevitable and then came the
Germans... The film closes with a
segment as poignant as the steps as the battleship heads to face the Russian
fleet: will they be blown from the waters or will they find merciful
solidarity? Whatever happens next is based on actual events.
The score from the Pet Shop Boys, which by the director’s instructions
should already have replaced in 2015, does the difficult job of connecting the
modern viewer with these 120-year-old events and it is surprisingly cinematic
given the Boys’ pop credentials. They’ve always been the smartest of duos with
musicality and insight beyond most in the hit parade and here they are
sympathetic to the original intent whilst also attempting to highlight the more
timeless elements of this “good revolution”. It’s a “commentary” that occasionally
jars when the synthesisers start to drive – as in Men and Maggots – but you
soon get caught up in the swirl of Lowe and Tennant’s clear passion for this
film.
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| Dresden in 2017 |
Torsten Tasch orchestrates their themes in forceful ways for
the Dresdner Sinfoniker which, conducted by Jonathan Stockhammer, add the
forceful cinematic drive required to match Eisenstein’s on-screen intentions
and display. It’s vibrant and inventive and still feels fresh twenty years on
from the original composition… the same period in time between the uprising and
the film. Even amongst changing musical fashions the Pet Shop Boys are
themselves starting to feel time-less and their music still has the capacity to uplift as on the closing For Freedom, an eternal Song for Europe...
The inclusion of Hochhaussinfonie (2017) showing the Dresdner
Sinfoniker and PSB preparing for an epic presentation of their score and the
film in the middle of a former East German housing estate, shows the enduring importance
of the film and live accompaniment. It’s a compelling work of art in itself
which allows much interaction with the residents who all have memories of the
former soviet-led regime in Germany.
It's full of poignant individual stories and shows the power
of artistic endeavour to uplift and reframe even during the most isolating of
circumstances… so many single women, widows, living in what resembles a giant
memorial to communist design. As Neil says in the film, these people revolted against
authoritarian rule in the end and the hope is that, whilst history never really
repeats, there are patterns that re-occur. Resistance and sacrifice are always
victorious but all they can do is but people an opportunity. This may lead to
worse things or it may not, but you have to hope that one day things will not
only change but for the better.
Special features
- Hochhaussinfonie (2017, 68 mins) a documentary explores not only the complexities of the Dresden concert, but also the residents and their lived experiences of a very different time
- Trafalgar Square highlights (2004, 4 mins): a short film capturing the build-up and performance as Pet Shop Boys premiered their newly composed score for Battleship Potemkin with the Dresdner Sinfoniker in London
- CD featuring the score by Pet Shop Boys and Dresdner Sinfoniker
- Trailer (2025)
- Limited edition only... Fully illustrated booklet featuring new writing by Chris Heath, Sarah Cleary, and Neil Tennant, plus a previously published essay by Michael Brooke, notes on the special features and credits
The set is available from the BFI Shop and all good
retailers!
