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Battleship potemkin: A Masterpiece in Film History.

As soon as Battleship potemkin was released, it immediately shocked the whole world, and was recognized as the most outstanding representative of Soviet Montage School, which influenced countless latecomers and became an insurmountable classic in the history of human film. Today, the analysis and evaluation of Battleship potemkin is still a compulsory course in the Film Academy.

The most direct influence first comes from the montage technique used in Battleship potemkin. In this film, Eisenstein's genius and creativity have been brought into full play. Through re-editing and ingenious combination between shots, Eisenstein reconstructed a space-time system on the screen, which is very different from our real space-time system, but it is rooted in real life, thus fundamentally conforming to the audience's psychology of watching movies. From this perspective, Battleship potemkin created the most basic montage used in film creation. Of course, the montage was not invented by Eisenstein. It has been applied in Griffith's early films, even in the early films of May Lea and Porter, but this application is either unconscious or immature and imperfect. Only when Eisenstein arrived at the battleship potemkin can we say responsibly that the film art began to have its own unique montage language system. Today, if we leave this montage language system, film creation is out of the question. It is no exaggeration to say that all the films after Battleship potemkin are its students.

The influence of movies spread all over the world quickly, and countless young artists decided to join the film industry after watching Battleship potemkin. The battleship potemkin became a turning point that changed their fate-Spanish movie master luis Bunuel was one of them. Bunuel, who was still in college at that time, happened to see Battleship potemkin, which was shown by the school, and was immediately impressed by its unparalleled expressive force, which also became the direct driving force for him to start his film career. Soon, just three years later, bunuel made his first film, an Andalusian dog. This 24-minute short film, regarded as a masterpiece of surrealism, also caused a great sensation and established bunuel's position as a master in the film industry. The whole movie is full of wild imagination: a moon is cut open, an eyeball is cut open with a knife, an ant's hand is covered, a dead donkey is lying on the piano, a buttock and chest, and so on. It is not difficult to find that the use of these montages is exactly the same as that of Battleship potemkin, which is the concept of "juggling montage" advocated by Eisenstein, and bunuel himself is not shy about it. It is worth mentioning that the two masters have also become good friends in life. When Eisenstein traveled to Western Europe, he had a good talk with bunuel. However, it is said that when bunuel saw Eisenstein's Sentimental Romance, he did not agree with its artistic taste. He angrily went to various cafes to find Eisenstein, and he must slap him in the face. Of course, this is only an anecdote left by the host's frank temperament, and it has not really affected their friendship.

The same influence also happened to the Portuguese national treasure director Oliveira, who is nearly 100 years old. It was because of the influence of the battleship potemkin that he resolutely devoted himself to film creation. Although his film "The Hard Worker on the Duluo River" is a documentary, we can clearly see its imitation of "Battleship potemkin". In particular, there is a paragraph where the tracker pulls the fiber, in which several facial close-ups are edited, and the lens is repeatedly switched between the tracker and the passengers, just like in the battleship potemkin.

Interestingly, a few years later, Nazi Germany, which was ideologically incompatible with the Soviet Union, and the battleship potemkin were also highly respected. It is said that Goebbels, the propaganda minister of Nazi Germany, was shocked by the shocking power after seeing the battleship potemkin. He instructed the Germans to make a similar film, and soon found female directors Riefenstahl to carry out this plan, which led to the birth of Will's Victory. Victory of Will is a completely reactionary film, which is entirely to praise the Nazi Party. But as far as the artistic value of the film is concerned, the film was so successful that the later film history had to mention it awkwardly-on the one hand, it denounced its ideology, on the other hand, it praised its expression. There is no doubt that this film, which was born under the direct influence of the battleship potemkin, bears a strong Eisenstein imprint. Of course, due to the progress of science and technology, the improvement of shooting tools and the almost unlimited production funds provided by the Nazi Party, Victory of the Will is more grand, magnificent and sophisticated than the battleship potemkin, but the use of its montage technique is still a steal from the latter. Especially in the scene where Hitler boarded the Nuremberg military parade, Hitler and his men climbed the stairs in turn and were surrounded by dark Nazi party members. The cheers of slogans resounded through the sky, and the Nazi saluted with dense arms. The editing technique was simply a replica of Odessa Steps.

At the same time, "Battleship potemkin" became the textbook of domestic Soviet films, and the concept of montage was absorbed by many Soviet films. For example, Flying South in the Wild (летятуравли) was shot on 1957 black and white film. The most famous scene in the film is the scene where Boris, the protagonist, is shot. In reality, being shot is only a moment. Director Kalatozov used a long series of shots to show it: First, the birch forest rotates, and Boris's imagination is superimposed on this background. Veronica went downstairs in a wedding dress, married Boris, and finally returned to the spinning birch forest. This scene became a symbol of the eternity of the flying geese, and this technique of lengthening time and reconstructing the space-time system in the film was first used by Eisenstein in Battleship potemkin (Odessa Steps is its typical representative), and the flying geese inherited this technique and developed and innovated at the same time.

The influence of Battleship potemkin was not limited to Europe, but it soon became a model for Hollywood to follow. In fact, the montage technique of multi-shot quick editing used by Eisenstein in Battleship potemkin has become the basic expression mode of Hollywood movies, and it can even be said that Hollywood is Eisenstein's best student. Take the Hollywood masterpiece Broken Blue Bridge as an example. This touching and tearful romantic movie still uses the montage technique used in Battleship potemkin. For example, Mara, the heroine played by Vivien Leigh, committed suicide by walking towards Waterloo Bridge. A group of military trucks rumbled by the bridge, and Mara fearlessly walked towards the speeding military vehicles. Her pale face was beautiful and holy under the illumination of headlights. The camera quickly switched between military vehicles and horses. Amid the screams of the crowd and the brakes of the truck, Mara finally ended her life, with her handbag and an ivory auspicious symbol scattered on the ground. This expression almost completely copied the bridge in Battleship potemkin.

The same example is the most famous bathroom killing scene in the film Psycho directed by Hitchcock. In the scene of "Odessa Steps" in Battleship potemkin, Eisenstein used more than 160 shots in 8 minutes, while the scene of "Bathroom Murder" lasted for 48 seconds, but it was composed of 78 shots that were quickly switched. Although there is no bloody picture of a knife piercing the human body, its horrible effect is due to montage, scene scheduling, rhythm, lighting and sound technology. It can be said that Hitchcock pushed the montage editing technique pioneered by Eisenstein to the extreme.

If Hitchcock knows the essence of Eisenstein's quick editing technique, then francis coppola is a good student who combines Eisenstein's editing technique with metaphorical expression. In Coppola's masterpiece "Apocalypse Now", the hero played by Martin Shawn finally hacked to death the demon officer played by Marlon Brando, but Coppola did not directly show that Brando was hacked to death. Brando's figure is still in the dark, but the rhythm of wielding a knife is gradually accelerated in the editing. At the same time, the scene in which the aborigines hacked to death a bull at the sacrificial ceremony was added, and it was alternately edited with the scene in which Brando was hacked to death. It can be said that this is the standard Eisenstein technique, similar to the three stone lions edited by Eisenstein in Battleship potemkin.

In Hollywood, it is the famous director Brian who publicly pays tribute to the battleship potemkin? De? In Palma's masterpiece "Unselfish" filmed in 1987, there is a passage that completely imitates Odessa Steps, which is also the climax of the whole film: in the waiting hall of the railway station, Kevin? Costner, a special investigator of the government, met a gangster by accident. The two sides first walked to the steps tacitly and calmly, and then pulled out their guns and shot at each other almost at the same time. At the same time, a passer-by pushing a stroller happened to pass by, but the stroller accidentally fell from the top of the steps because of fright. Costner's screen hero is excellent, only to see him run down while shooting, and finally kill the gangster at the critical moment and catch the out-of-control stroller. It should be said that this imitation is still very successful, DE? Palma also uses steps, strollers, facial features and other elements, and also has its own gameplay. Through the multi-angle switching of aircraft seats and the use of upgrade lenses, the whole action scene is very beautiful. Although slow motion is used, the movements are closely connected and the connection between shots is also very subtle.

At this point, I think it is not difficult for friends who love movies to think that this kind of montage is actually very common in action movies, and the outstanding representative is the so-called "violent aesthetics" movies in John Woo's style. Looking at Wu Yusen's works, it is almost impossible to find a work that does not use this montage technique? Based on this, some people even commented that Eisenstein was the originator of violent aesthetic films, but I think this is definitely a misinterpretation of his old man's original intention.

The reason why Wu-style action movies can impress us and make Hollywood fancy is largely because of the success of action scenes. It can be said that the "juggling montage" in Battleship potemkin has been completely exaggerated and extreme after Wu Yusen's transformation, and Wu Yusen has endowed it with oriental poetry and beauty. Even in Hollywood, this feature of John Woo has not changed. For example, in Face/Guan, as long as it is a duel between two protagonists, almost 100% uses slow motion. Nicolas Cage's iconic half-turn, gun drawing and shooting movements never use a single-lens constant-speed lens, but they must be multi-lens and multi-angle slow motion, stretching every detail of Cage as much as possible and depicting it carefully; At the same time, it also strengthens this effect through multi-angle repetition, thus showing the natural and unrestrained temperament and heroic spirit of the characters to the fullest. In John Woo's films, the instantaneous action often takes a few minutes to express. These artificially extended time intervals are similar to the "blank space" in Chinese painting, creating an oriental "gas field" full of oriental beauty.

Especially worth mentioning is Eisenstein's compatriot, movie master Andrei tarkovsky of the Soviet Union. In fact, Tarkovsky was first known as a critic of Eisenstein. He has published articles systematically refuting Eisenstein's montage theory. He believes that Eisenstein's montage technique overemphasizes the director's subjective intention and cancels the dominant position of the audience, which is not desirable. Based on this, he also opposes any metaphorical scenes in Eisenstein's films. However, once he entered the creative practice, tarkovsky could not be completely divorced from Eisenstein. In his films, metaphorical montages abound, especially his андрерубев. Because of this, Tarkovsky later had to admit, "Obviously someone will accuse me of inconsistency. However, artists can create rules or break them. "