How are we supposed to judge propaganda? I watched this with Russian title cards I couldn't understand, so my initial take was of a simple documentary on the working classes of Russia at the time - and to that extent I loved it. Watching a film like this is - a 'city symphony' or a 'film poem' where there is no plot - is like watching a photography portfolio in motion, and just as a quality photography portfolio can hold your attention with the beauty of the craft, so can a film in this genre, and despite watching a 480p version on youtube, 'The Eleventh Year' was still wonderfully composed. Vertov trademarks were apparent - breaking the fourth wall by drawing our attention to the photography of double exposures and many moving camera shots. Water surfaces are imposed on top of towns and people, and workers the same, so their hard work is seen to be towering over the towns. At best this is wonderfully metaphoric, while at others it is tedious experimentation, but at 42 minutes the film is mercifully short, without too much repetition, so it never grated too badly. Of course, in 2015 when it feels like we have already seen everything on screen there is to be seen, certain subjects, particularly the more common such as the flow of water, and the rhythmic mechanical actions of nuts and bolts and machinated wheels, may feel trivial and monotonous, but who knows how they felt at the time? I enjoyed it even more than 'Man With a Movie Camera.'
However the emphasis on the grimy working class, a staple of 1920's Russian propaganda (such as 'Mat', 'The End of St. Petersburg' 'Battleship Potemkin', and 'Zemyla') aroused my suspicions, before the army shots at the end, followed by internet searches to check what my Russian translation couldn't, confirmed them, so that where before the progress from fields, to mines, to factories and eventually to extravagant city buildings felt like an existential musing on the fruits of our labour, they now feel like a well shot advertisement. Was it possible the Russians of that time could make anything that wasn't propaganda?
If there is a message here, it is don't watch films in a language you don't understand, although in this case I'm kinda glad that I did, for I think I enjoyed it much more than I otherwise would have. Points must be deducted for propaganda though.
However the emphasis on the grimy working class, a staple of 1920's Russian propaganda (such as 'Mat', 'The End of St. Petersburg' 'Battleship Potemkin', and 'Zemyla') aroused my suspicions, before the army shots at the end, followed by internet searches to check what my Russian translation couldn't, confirmed them, so that where before the progress from fields, to mines, to factories and eventually to extravagant city buildings felt like an existential musing on the fruits of our labour, they now feel like a well shot advertisement. Was it possible the Russians of that time could make anything that wasn't propaganda?
If there is a message here, it is don't watch films in a language you don't understand, although in this case I'm kinda glad that I did, for I think I enjoyed it much more than I otherwise would have. Points must be deducted for propaganda though.