Mother
Director: Vsevolod Pudovkin
Year Released: 1926
Rating: 2.0
A mother has to take sides in the struggle between her son and her husband in this historically relevant but emotionally distant piece of Lenin-era propaganda. In terms of visual composition - like most of the great Russian filmmakers (Eisenstein and Vertov, to name but two) - this is simply brilliant, but it left me completely cold otherwise: at the time it must have been a potent call-to-arms, but today it just looks like Communist preachiness - the Bourgeoisie-types get primped and pampered and the government/police are cruel but the dignity of the working man is not to be messed with. You stand there with that flag, Peasant Mother/Mother Russia.
