Just perfect...

Absolutely the worst movie.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

(Flash Review)This is a political power struggle war film around a political uprising in Russia during 1917 which I will avoid regurgitating the historical details of as I'll probably get them wrong as it took some brain power to figure everything out in an old silent film. Ha. Anyway, this echoes many cinematic themes of the more famous Battle of Potemkin (1926). The shot framing was full of great diagonals and great use of black and white contrasts. Probably influenced by the Russian Constructivism art movement that began in 1913. More of a fill geek film to watch these days.

October is another technically perfect masterpiece of Sergei Eistenstein that is though a little bit more radical and propaganda orientated than his previous works as the censorship and state control in Soviet Union heavily increased during that period. Note that Eisenstein would later be censored for other movies and that there would be way more radical propaganda movies than this one which can still be categorized as part of the early Soviet Union's revolutionary cinema. If you collect some background information and know about the historical context, you can watch this movie without problems as you won't get brainwashed by it in the end. Nevertheless, this is not an entertainment movie as there are lot of scenes and many different characters and events that need your full attention. The topic of revolution and violent rebellion hasn't changed though and is once again a main topic of one of Eisenstein's movies.From the artistic point of view, Eisenstein has improved his philosophy of cinema and introduces the intellectual montage to one of his full length features. You have a sequence of many short and fast cuts where you can seen images of religious symbols and after this or in alternation with this the statue of a tsar. This means that Eisenstein compares the numerous gods of different cultures in a profoundly atheist Soviet Union to the megalomania of the repressive tsars in a period of tyranny. The movie does the same thing when it compares the wasteful shine of tsarist dishes to a dumb and indoctrinated army in the next moment. Another good example is the fact that a tsarist officer is compared to Napoleon.Visually, there are many impressive images and scenes in this movie even if is not a intense as Battleship Potemkin was. The scene where a helpless horse falls down a bridge is pretty emotional for example.The movie is longer than Battleship Potemkin but very detailed and includes many historical details, crowds scenes and diversified characters. That's why the movie doesn't get too boring and is still enjoyable to watch nowadays.In the end, this movie is not as essential as Battleship Potemkin was but if you liked the style of Eisenstein's first international success, you can't go wrong with this one and learn a lot about Russian history, culture and ideology.

Oktyabr October This is one of the few times in film that the movie and history agree. It is a historically accurate account of the Bolshevik revolution and the overthrow of the monarchy in 1917. Oktyabr is full of symbolism that many will find amusing. For instance, the scene where the tsar walks through the doors and a shot of a peacock flashes on the screen, giving the illusion that the tsar walks into the peacock's butt. This is also a fairly graphic film, showing the deaths of many people. This is comparable to what someone would see if they viewed old World War II footage. The film mainly documents the revolution and makes intellectual connections between people and events in history. Many conclusions can be made about the connections that someone who recognizes the symbolism can make. For being a historical documentary type of movie, it does a good job of telling the story while still providing some interesting parts to keep the film viewer entertained. I felt that this movie gave me a greater insight to what happened in Russia during that time period. If you are interested in Russian history, this is definitely a movie that you want to see.

October by Sergei Eisenstein is one of the first films in the Russian Montage movement but neither as good nor memorable as his other Russian propaganda film, Battleship Potempkin. It shows in a sort of stylish documentary style way, the fall of the monarchy and the rise of the Bolsheviks. It is a really interesting movie to watch, mainly because it is 80 year old propaganda, but also because it is something that Americans probably don't look back fondly at. But this is painted in such a light that it is easy to support the cause, to cheer on the Bolsheviks as they raid the castle and kill those that stand in their way. The performances from the lead are all good or I guess so, it's a bit hard to gauge, as most of the extras were people actually there. Are they acting or merely just being themselves? Anyway, the movie looks beautiful and can be enjoyed on a surface level.The problem with the film is that it would be difficult to take it in on a much deeper than surface level. A lot of the famed montage shots, where you show one thing and then another quickly as if they are related, are too specific to the time I was completely lost on nearly all the references. Also the film doesn't do the best job introducing characters as if the film was made almost entirely for a set of people that will cheer when an unnamed character is shown because they get the reference. Which I'm not sure is a fault, was Eisenstein even thinking this film would be distributed, or even still available 80 years later? October isn't the best Russian propaganda film, but I'm sure it isn't the worst. It is likely best viewed by the huge cinephiles that are studying film movements.