International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest

Extract

October , directed in 1928 by the legendary filmmaker Sergei Eistenstein (1898–1948), attempts to re-present the early phases of the October 1917 Bolshevik Revolution (in five Acts) focusing on Petrograd, from the end of the czarist monarchy (February 1917) to the provisional government and the peace and land decrees (November 1917). Though Lenin returns in April, he is targeted for arrest in July. By late October, the Bolsheviks’ advanced guard, led by Anatov-Oveyenko, gets inside the czar's palace; he eventually signs the dissolution of the provisional government. Toward the end of October , Lenin declares the Bolshevik Revolution successful and ends his statement with ‘We must now set about building a proletarian socialist state in Russia.” Commissioned by the October Revolution Jubilee Committee and produced in 1927, Eisenstein's third film in an uncompleted cycle of films about the 1917 Revolution is dedicated to “the Petrograd proletariat, heroes of the October Revolution” (Eureka Video DVD release of October , 2000). October was made to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Revolution, for which it recreated events with “the greatest possible realism” (as explained to the viewer in its opening shots). Part of Eisenstein's drive for realism may explain his casting of actors, including those at the heart of the armed revolt, in October . He used no professionals (nor ... log in or subscribe to read full text