This silent films is organized in chapters, or as some other reviewers refer to them, as montages, though it didn't seem to me that the technique was needed. The story moves fairly seamlessly and the viewer has no trouble following the sequence of events; the title cards signaling each montage is almost like a break in the flow of the story. Even so, this is a gripping film, all the more compelling for it's production during the silent era under director Sergei M. Eisenstein. There is an early preface relative to individuals falling under the spell of mass consciousness which itself dissolves into revolutionary fervor, and that theme dominates the story. As impressive as the movie is, I was totally awed by the sequence involving the citizenry of Odessa filing out on that incredibly long strip of land with ocean on both sides, for the viewing of Grigory Vakulinchuk, leader of the mutiny aboard the Potemkin protesting inhumane conditions and rotting meat masquerading as food for the sailors. And as so often has happened with my movie viewing pleasure, I was rewarded once again with a moment of cosmic serendipity upon witnessing the Odessa Staircase montage with it's baby carriage sequence. I had no idea that was coming, and with my very prior viewing of "The Untouchables", the scene had me just about jumping out of my seat. If that comment makes no sense to the reader, you'll just have to watch both films, and not necessarily back to back, as the sequence under consideration will be most apparent. The only negative I found with 'Potemkin' was the obvious use of a model used in some long views of the battleship which brought down the professionalism of the project. Otherwise, this was a competently made film, all the more so for it's silent era origins, and one which every cinema fan should see at least once.

a propaganda film. it is obvious this conclusion. and one of films who seems more than perfect. because it is a challenge. for cinematography, for memorable scenes, for details. and for the state. and this does it one of rare meetings who remains in memory for entire life. because it is the film who change. perspectives, opinions and who defines the pure art. because it is one of the brilliant cinema lesson for each viewer. and, maybe, this is the most important thing about it.

It's sixty-six minutes of perhaps the most arresting imagery in movie history, also one of the most dynamic. Every shot includes movement of some kind, whether people, smoke, guns, or the prow of history overtaking us. There's no scene of focal conversation, let alone silent talk. Thus politics of revolt remain largely unregistered. Instead the symbolism of rotten meat force-fed to sailors sums up crumbling Tsarist rule. The revolt is told in compelling movement, crowds rushing to and fro, Tsarist forces ahead or behind. One after another, the human wave cascades, with hardly time to breathe. Surely, the Odessa Steps is one of the most memorable in all moviedom; at the same time, a common humanity is deepened-- the dead baby, the shattered eyeglasses. Yes, the 1905 revolt failed. But seed was planted taking down Tsarist rule but ten years later. No need to go on—the film's brilliance is there for all to see, and remains so though not a word is spoken. It's Eisenstein's masterpiece, an enduring one-of-a-kind.

I only became aware of Battleship Potemkin when Brian De Palma's The Untouchable's was released for the cinema and critics mentioned the pram down the steps sequence and how the director borrowed it from this film.This Russian silent celebrates the Potemkin uprising of 1905 which Lenin regarded as an event that sowed the seeds of the The Russian Revolution. This is a fictionalised retelling by Sergei Eisenstein.The crew of the battleship are mutinous because of poor rations, meat infested with maggots but the officers pass it as fit for consumption. The crew will not back down so the officers throw tarpaulin over some of the rebellious crew, give them the last rites and are ordered to be shot.One of the crew members Vakulinchuk pleads to the firing squad not to fire and the firing squad does not and it leads to mutiny as the officers are overcome.The uprising in the ship travels far and wide and in the town of Odessa, Vakulinchuk who was killed in the mutiny, his body is displayed to the public. In the Odessa steps a gathering crowd are fired on by Tsarist troops where women and children are killed leading to a pram with a baby plummeting down the steps. The massacre never happened, it was made up for the film.The film is propaganda to symbolize the spirit of the Russian revolution. Sergei Eisenstein made an epic film with vast crowd sequences, montage editing techniques and is a technical accomplishment for the early days of cinema.