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IMDb > Zemlya (1930)
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Overview

User Rating:
7.6/10   1,089 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 4% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Writer:
Aleksandr Dovzhenko (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for Earth on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
17 October 1930 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama more
Plot:
In the peaceful countryside, Vassily opposes the rich kulaks over the coming of collective farming. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
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NewsDesk:
DVD Spotlight: 9/3.
 (From GreenCine. 3 September 2008, 10:45 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
Can Art Transcend Propaganda? more

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)
Stepan Shkurat ... Opanas (as S. Shkurat)
Semyon Svashenko ... Vasili 'Basil' Opanas (as S. Svashenko)
Yuliya Solntseva ... Vasili's sister (as Yu. Solntseva)
Yelena Maksimova ... Natalya, Vasili's fiancee (as Ye. Maksimova)
Nikolai Nademsky ... Semyon 'Simon' Opanas (as N. Nademsky)
Ivan Franko ... Arkhip Whitehorse, Khoma's father (as I. Franko)
Pyotr Masokha ... Khoma 'Thomas' Whitehorse (as P. Masokha)
Vladimir Mikhajlov ... Village priest (as V. Mikhajlov)
Pavel Petrik ... Young party-cell leader (as P. Petrik)
P. Umanets ... Chairman of the village Farm Soviet
Ye. Bondina ... Farm girl
Luka Lyashenko ... Young Kulak (as L. Lyashenko)
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Земля (Soviet Union: Russian title)
Earth (USA)
Soil
more
Runtime:
75 min | USA:73 min (1991 Kino video)
Country:
Soviet Union
Aspect Ratio:
1.33 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Silent
Certification:
Finland:K-16 (1956) | Finland:S (1972)
Company:
Wufku more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Soviet censors made Aleksandr Dovzhenko eliminate a number of scenes from the film, including a shot of peasants urinating in a tractor radiator and a scene where a dead man's fiancée mourns him in the nude. more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Life as a Dream (2007) (V) more

FAQ

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15 out of 18 people found the following comment useful:-
Can Art Transcend Propaganda?, 5 August 2006
9/10
Author: bobdunn9 from Virginia, USA

Like 'The Birth of a Nation' or 'The Triumph of the Will', 'Earth' is a brilliant, groundbreaking film even if morally despicable. And in retrospect of what happened after its release, Stalin's liquidation of millions of Kulaks, its hard not to compare Dovzhenko's Marxism to Reifenstahl's fascism or Griffith's racism. Apologists for all of these filmmakers tell us to 'ignore the story' or 'ignore the propaganda'. Even the Kino DVD introduction instructs us to not take the film literally.

Perhaps instead of asking, 'Can propaganda be art?' the better question is , 'Can art transcend propaganda.' In 'Earth', I think Dovzhenko partially succeeds. The lyrical cycles of birth and death on the Ukrainian steppe are told with visual poetry. In fact, as the film goes on Dovzhenko obviously becomes uninterested in the circumstances of Vasily's murder and martyrdom for the collectivist cause. No doubt, the Soviet regime produced this film to (a) encourage collectivization against private ownership, and (b) Encourage a retro-pagan worship of agrarian life against orthodox Christianity. The collectivist vs. Kulak story in (a) is crude and unconvincing propaganda to a modern audience with historical perspective on Stalin's brutalities in the 1930's. However, it is with the fertile imagery and montage of natural cycles in (b) that Dovzhenko succeeds beautifully and transcends the story and makes it timeless.

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