Zemlya (1930)

In the peaceful countryside, Vassily opposes the rich kulaks over the coming of collective farming.

Director:

Aleksandr Dovzhenko

Writer:

Aleksandr Dovzhenko

Stars:

Stepan Shkurat, Semyon Svashenko, Yuliya Solntseva

1 win & 1 nomination.

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 Mikhaylov	...	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)

Storyline

Dovzhenko's "film poem" style brings to life the collective experience of life for the Ukranian proles, examining natural cycles through his epic montage. He explores life, death, violence, sex, and other issues as they relate to the collective farms. An idealistic vision of the possibilities of Communism made just before Stalinism set in and the Kulack class was liquidated, "Earth" was viewed negatively by many Soviets because of its exploration of death and other dark issues that come with revolution.

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Plot Keywords:

soviet propaganda | kulak | stalinism | collective farm | communism | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

Soviet Union

Release Date:

17 October 1930 (USA)

Also Known As:

Soil

Company Credits

Production Co:

Vseukrainske Foto Kino Upravlinnia (VUFKU)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

75 min 73 min (1991 Kino video)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film was voted one of the 12 greatest films of all time by a group of 117 film historians at the 1958 Brussels World Fair.

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Quotes

Opanas: As my Basil was killed for a new life, so I'm asking you to bury him in a new way.

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Alternate Versions

Mosfilm Studios restored this film in 1971 with a new score composed and conducted by V. Ovchinnikov. The Eastin-Phelan Corp. copyrighted that version in 1975, with an English translation of titles by Stephen P. Hill, and Kino International copyrighted and released that version on video in 1991. The video version runs 71 minutes plus about 2 minutes of explanatory remarks.

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Connections

Featured in The Michael Nyman Songbook (1992)

User Reviews

Can Art Transcend Propaganda?

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.