The General Line

A bull mating with a cow has never been made more thrilling. It's like Eisenstein was trying to play with visual representations of orgasms (without orgasms): the scene where the milk machine starts splooging over everyone is rapturous and disturbing at the same time. The "start a co-op" story didn't move me, but Eisenstein's direction did.

Just how does one sing an epic for an agricultural loan program? Being tasked with that question affords Eisenstein the freedom to play around more than most propaganda subjects, and my does he seize that giant bull in the sky by the horns (milk a-raining in torrents the while). Every moment has a message to deliver, in forceful and handsomely-shot fashion.

What's better than one prize bull ? Many prize bulls. But nothing beats a tractor in the case of Soviet communal farming. This docudrama could almost work as a feature-length advertisement for Massey Ferguson!

Velho e Novo e estreava há 90 anos na União Soviética. Se não tivesse assistido ao espetacular Terra do Dovzhenko antes desse filme provavelmente o achasse uma obra-prima, ainda é excelente, especialmente pela escolha da camponesa do rosto expressivo para protagonista e a sempre brilhante edição de Eisenstein, mas perto do filme de 1930 este perde um pouco a força. BlurayRip no MakingOff.

"'We are SMART cinephiles!'" http://illusionpodcast.blogspot.com/2015/12/episode-82-cinema-masters-vol-xi.html

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