Did You Know?

The battle on the ice was inspired by Sergei M. Eisenstein's love for the D.W. Griffith film Way Down East, in which the climax is a chase over a vast river of melting ice heading toward a waterfall.

Propaganda 1 Pro-communism/ Russia: the call for peasants to rise up and defeat the invaders; the involvement of a woman (Vasilisa) in the army and at the forefront of the struggle; the banishment of the moneyed men (the bourgeoisie) from the town as the peasants arrive; the forgiveness of the Russian people to the foot soldiers of the Teutonic knights (as these foot soldiers were forced to serve the knights).

Propaganda 3 anti-German/ Nazi: the symbol on the back of the gloves of the Archbishop is simultaneously reminiscent of Christian symbolism and of the swastika; some of these Teutonic figures closest to the tent chapel display crossed daggers on their tunics reminiscent of a swastika; many of the Teutonic knights carry flags and shields or wear clothes emblazoned with a figure resembling the imperial German eagle Note that the arms of the Order of Teutonic Knights also incorporate a similar eagle); the Archbishop bears a minimally disguised swastika on his mitre/ headdress during the battle; many of the Teutonic foot-soldiers wear helmets reminiscent of the German Army of World War 2; the treachery of the knight who kills Master Armourer despite having surrendered to him.