Earth (1930)

An important part to studying history in a recorded medium is understanding the context in which is was created. This is important when studying propaganda films. In time the ideals and beliefs may seem unjust or are even be shunned by cultures after the passage of time, but that should not take away from the significance of the overall piece as a whole or even as a valued production of recorded history that is forever frozen in time giving the audience a glimpse into the settings and the minds of a people now gone. Through the short history of motion picture propaganda there have been two main cultures that have in a way come and gone while utilizing the medium for their purposes like no other. True that the United States has used propaganda films throughout the 20th century to dehumanize their enemies and rally the efforts of its people for the cause of defeating their enemies, but Soviet Russia and Nazi German were two powers that understood the power of the cinema and utilized it to level beyond most. Soviet productions were a powerful tool is shaping the ideals of the people of Russia after the first World War. With the likes of Battleship Potemkin and October which preach Marxism and the socialist mindset, both were produced with the aid of government funds Alexander Dovzhenko's Earth would use the art of filmmaking to preach that the collective whole (socialism) would rule the day over the greedy individuals (capitalism).

Dovzhenko's Earth (the Russian word Zemlya, also meaning soil) was the third installment in his "Ukraine Trilogy" depicting life in the Ukraine, his home land, with the ideal of Marxism. The film takes place in a small Ukrainian town where a collective farm ran by poor workers slave to try to get by. Meanwhile they see their neighbor individual farmers who are wealthy and prosperous as evil, gloating over them while they struggle in the fields, morurning the lose of just one of their collective group. Life seems to pick up when the group acquire a tractor upping their production until they damage a fence between the two lands sending the indiviaul land owner out to kill the farmer responsible for it. The film manifests how the group of young farmers come together celebrating those that served the group while they shun religion and individualism even when the murderer comes out to confess what he did. Their ideals are with the prosperity of the whole even through the passage of time, for where one has died there is another born. The circle of life is a main theme in the picture as the people are not just working for today but for the future that will inherit what they leave behind.

The film clearly preaches socialism, manifesting it not as a perfect place where all is well, but as a Utopian mindset. Work is still hard and toilsome, even showing the new, celebrated tractor making its way in to the farm breaking down temporarily crushing their spirits. The rich individuals are depicted as greedy and mean spirited hoping that this group will fail, but in the end is so overcome with his guilt he screams that he should be punished for his murdering of a fellow farmer. Religion is also shunned. The monk that comes to comfort the sorrow filled family of their lose sees the monk as evil. The monk prays that the people are struck down by God. A rather un-Christian act, but as part of the theme of the film the people believe in themselves and nothing else, seeking to do all things different from what makes them individuals and rather act on a whole.

All politics aside the film is seen as one of its periods great films. It was spoken along the lines of Battleship Potemkin, both serving similar messages and both are beautiful in their own ways. The film uses beautiful shots of wide open fields, bounties of fruit, masses of people, as well as joy of the future with the site of babies. The editing is what makes the film work. The editing creates the pace and the passion of the story. Some parts of the production is lacking. Most everything is shot in close up and with the film being silent does little to set up situations, but eventually it is pieced together. The film was meant for a different culture and time, and with that you must give it its dues when watching it. The film does capture a culture and place that many today are not familiar with. Despite this not being an actual event or even inspired by an actual event the film still allows you to see glimpses of the past through a filter of the perfect socialist farm society in the Ukraine.

The film would be hailed as one of the best films from Russia at that time and for a few decades to come. Dovzhenko would not direct many films with hisgrand total of only seven, this being his most revered. He would go on to win two Stalin awards for his work in cinema for Russia as well as his journalistic work during World War II. Despite its age and message, the film is hailed as beautiful by critics and is seen as one of the best foreign films in history. If you are a fan of, or are just interested in, propaganda you should give this film a viewing. The world is a different place now, but it is educational to watch just how people though about the world they lived in during their times.