Good Battleship Potemkin Film Discussion Essay Example

The juxtaposition style is displayed in the opening remarks of Soviet Revolutionary, who asserts that “Revolution is war.” The assertions are accompanied by images in which water crashes on the rocks. It is a demonstration of constant collision that later shook the battleship to the end of the film. The theme of disturbance and collision is at play, and the juxtaposed ideas are made bear in the form of change that is accompanied by destruction. The two ideas are combined subconsciously to ascertain the montage theory. The theme of conflict is used for the conveyance of images to provide the deeper fill meanings to different scenes as well as better editorial angle within the montages. The dreadful scenes in the battleship lead to several deaths and executions of the several crew members as well as the imperial navy members. In the film Battleship Potemkin, there is a looming tension on the ship as people, and the crew is fed using a rotten meat. In their view, this is a blatant breach of their rights and show of oppressive muscle. In what begins as a peaceful protest against the retrogressive treatment, the crew members soon realize that everything is at stake and reaches the Navy. In a cynical theatrical mannerism, hell breaks loose, and a peaceful protest takes a different twist. The protest continues to extreme, and the battle erupts in the Potemkin. The escalation of the events leads to a fight with the Navy leading to the massacre of the protest leader as well as the captain. However, the battleship is soon approaching Odessa, the home to the crew. The Odessa populace hears of the information that their brothers have been mistreated and soon decides to stand in solidarity with them. In rather a bizarre twist, a woman with a little boy is caught in the crowd and ends up losing her little boy through the stampede. The sequence here begins in a tracking shot and statically. Then, the camera begins to move alongside the boy and the mother, but the angle changes as the boy’s lifeless body are stamped on by the running crowd. The dynamic show of camera movement is demonstrated here as the mother, and her boy is kept in the center. Then it is lowered a bit to bring the stepping scenario. The use of such strong vector transition portrays the application of montage as the camera shots cut into the moving crowd.
The scenes of imperialism begin when a young boy is whipped by an officer for sleeping with the arms hanging outside the hammocks thereby impeding the movement of the officer. In his reaction to this, the officer whips the boy, and that draws the response of other sailors. In another build-up to the protest, sailors gather to view the meet that has been hanged outside the kitchen by a cook. As his curiosity grows, the officer comes over to inquire the reason for the unusual gathering. However, the sailors deliver the unthinkable message about the disgusting meat. He moves to the ship doctor to seek for his expertise and observation of the meat. In a more surprising move, the doctor declares the meat consumable and discredits the opinions projected by the sailors. In their view, it is critical for the sailors to obey the rules of the jungle that rule the ship. The move by the doctor is however not surprising and is an utter display of the usual sycophancy. He claims that the meat is only manifested by maggots and not worms and provides a vile solution that they can be washed with brine and still be safe to consume. The preparations to serve the food are underway, and sailors are only served soup. Others take the soup with heavy hearts while others decline totally. At the kitchen, a dishwasher notices the unusual writing on one of the dishes that has some biblical annotation of being given the day their daily bread. After keen reading of the proposition, the dishwasher decides to smash it and then abandon the whole work.
Drama ensues at the harbor when Captain Golikov comes out to declare zero tolerance on any form of protest or strike. As a show of loyalty, the captain orders the victims of the meat incident to move below the cannons, but another group fails to honor the order. They are around fifteen people declines the order and stays put. Acting in furiously, the captain asserts that everybody that did not eat the soup was bound to be killed. They attempt to move under the cannons, but the officers shove them back. In a move to have them executed, the captain orders a tarpaulin to be thrown over them. Psychologically, it would make it so easy for them to be shot. Soon, the Orthodox priest comes over and orders that alleged disobedient sailors to seek for God’s mercy through repentance. As some decide to go on their knees, the captain gives an order to the shooting squad to execute the sailors at the tarpaulin. However, a delay occurs as Vakulinchuk disrupts the plans by pleading for the orders to be ignored. He takes a bold move and decides to jump on the guns and plead for their colleagues. In the meantime, he calls for revolution against the imperial leadership of the crew ship and specifically, the officers. Hell breaks loose, and everyone is entangled in a running battle and cover positioning for the long battle. The eruption of the battle sees several officers thrown out to drown, and the cunny doctor is equally subjected to mob justice. However, he pretends to be dead upon being pushed down the ladder. During this trying moment, one officer is lucky to grab a gun that he uses to shoot Vakulinchuk in the back of his head that leads to his demise. The calls to save him are made, but he’s brought back already gone. The unwarranted shooting of the sailors for failing to eat a soup made from rotten meat is in itself a show of inhumanity. It is characteristic of oppressive regimes to rule through iron fists, and that is the depiction of the Russian Revolution. The scenes of clashing ideas and weaponry are displayed through quick cuts as the sailors raise their arms in rebellion while the Marines are raising the riffles. The flag is also flowing in the wind wildly as movement vectors continue to conflict in several shots between the sailors and the oppressive marine. Nearly every image in this scene is accompanied by energetically or spatially opposing image.
At the Odessa port, the death of Vakulinchuk rocks the shores and the mutineers stick a placard that shows he was killed for just a bowl of soup. It sparks curiosity, and people gather to view the body of the fallen martyr. The death draws mixed reaction with many people sensing political ferment against the oppressive tsarist regime. However, others apportion blame to the mutineers for their agonies. While the ship edges closer, soldiers appear holding their guns towards the watchful crowd and eventually open fire. Many viewers are caught in the stampede as they run for their lives. A crippled man and another without legs are all caught on the rampage. However, the soldiers inhumanly shoot at the crowd. The insensitivity continues as a woman with a dead son is killed while attempting to plead for her son’s attention. The scenes at the port are a clear demonstration of brutality shown by the tsarist regime. The movie demonstrates how people were brutally murdered by the regime that was only concerned with the consolidation of authoritarian rule. To depict the sailor triumph over the battleship and subsequent taking over, numerous shots are slated together to fill the space. The various slated shots show sailors descending the stairs and enters in the cabin. Some are also climbing the ship sides as others knock off the officers from the ship. In this scene, a single shot has shown a multitude of sailors on the ship side to encompass space entirety and subjugation to the masses. The collective slating of shots in the montage shows creative editing for films.