Battleship Potemkin is an outstanding work, as the film’s propagandistic power is undeniable. Eisenstein’s clear-cut and intentional filmmaking made the movie, and symbolism is rampant throughout the film. The film is full of scenes of revolution and riots, but one of the most powerful (and iconic) is that of the Odessa Steps.
The psychological power this part alone has in carrying a propagandistic story is breathtaking. The audience watches as Russian soldiers march down the steps, firing into the ground, seemingly marching down forever. The endless march of the Russian soldiers is powerful, as it portrays them not only has never-ending, but a mechanic. The sight of the mighty tsarist militia marching down on innocent citizens serves as a powerful incentive to remain angry and resentful.
However, what is truly striking, even after finishing the film, is the baby carriage (with the infant still inside) rolling down the long and endless set of steps after the baby’s mother had been shot and killed. The framework of a mother attempting to protect her baby evokes strong emotion across all cultures, no matter where in the world. Seeing the baby roll down the stairs after his mother’s death, surrounded by fear and death, adds on to this propagandistic ideology. It becomes even more comfortable to associate the tsarist militia as an evil group, one that tears a mother and her baby apart. The separation is a prominent part of the film, creating a final, blatant attempt at creating a clear right and wrong side in the revolution.
6 thoughts on “Endless Stairs in Battleship Potemkin”
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I really like what you said about the “mechanistic” nature of the Tsarist soldiers. Their dehumanization not just in their violent actions, but also in Eisenstein’s visual portrayal of them, is notable. We see the violence they inflict, their guns, and their military formation, but I do not remember any significant shots of their faces. They are just pieces of the regime. Any sympathy for their personhood is completely erased.
The scene of the mother holding her child and asking for help from the Tsarist soldiers also adds to this dehumanization. They show no mercy in the killing of the mother and child. No emotion and facial expressions are shown as you pointed out. As you mention, the Tsarist soldiers are almost portrayed as robots as they march down the steps with no remorse.
I think the comment in your title, “the endless stairs” is exactly the image that Eisenstein is hoping for. We are supposed to see the climb to power, to being an aristocrat, as a sort of endless uphill climb, one that is almost unsurmountable. This image positions the work class, the laborers, as those who are at disadvantaged, although more powerful that those on top of the hill, they are weakened by their position within society.
Something that strikes me as odd about the Odessa Steps sequence upon reflection is how Eisenstein identifies the “mechanical” soldiers with the Cossacks. Throughout the imperial era, the Cossacks were never rank-and-file tsarists; many revolts against previous tsars (e.g. Pugachev’s rebellion) were led by Cossack bands, and Cossack society tended to be organized more democratically than the Russian Empire in which they were absorbed. According to the historical reading, the February Revolution succeeded because Cossack troops stationed in Petrograd defected to the revolutionaries (Thompson and Ward 200-201). Why portray this wildcard faction as a blind force of tsarist oppression? I suspect that the Russian Civil might play a role in the portrayal. The map of the conflict shows the Cossack homelands as lying outside of Bolshevik control (214), suggesting that many Cossack units fought alongside the White armies. As such, it would seem as though Eisenstein exercising a common propaganda strategy of merging several enemies into one ultimate adversary. Hence, all manners of tsarists, anti-Bolsheviks, priests, and bourgeois act collectively to resist the sailors’ revolution.
Sophie, you do a great job pointing out the most important scene in the film: the scene at the Odessa Steps. You also did a great job exposing the exaggeration in the scene as propaganda. Zach, you do a wonderful job revealing the inaccuracies that are inevitable in a propaganda film. Another scene that does a great job illustrating the inaccuracies of propaganda films is Vakulinchuk’s death. The way he is able to stay alive for so long even after being shot in the back of the head is extremely unrealistic. As he elegantly slides down the ropes of the sail, most of his shipmates jump in to save him. These plot points accentuate Vakinlinchuk’s role of a martyr and puts down the tsarist regime further.
Sophie and all, this is a fantastic discussion all around! Eva, terrific point about how Eisenstein’s cinematographic choices enhance the sense of the Tsarist regime and its agents as faceless, mechanistic, and inhuman/inhumane.I would suggest that the shadows of the soldiers are also used in a similarly suggestive way in this sequence. Thando, the addition of the story of Vakulinchuk’s death to the theme of martyrdom (for propagandistic effect) in the film is really important! And Zach, your analysis of the way propaganda operates to simplify and streamline is spot on, and juxtaposing these scenes of the Cossacks as agents of the Tsarist Empire with the historical reality that you learned about from the history textbook is really astute. We will revisit the Cossacks in Isaac Babel’s stories tomorrow–this time, serving on the side of the Soviets!