Strike

The great Eisenstein's first full length feature film, a silent piece ordered by the Bolsheveiks. It is obviously an important film, and we have full respect for what it did and the genius behind it. This does not necessarilly translate into a riveting experience, however.
The deliberate lack of characterisation, with the focus on collectivisation, is neither good nor bad filmically, but is one of the symptoms of this film's apparent directionless to the modern viewer. It can seem like a rather confusing collection of tricks and scenes, with no plot clearly explained at any point, rather it seems, even with the overarching themes, just a bunch of things happening. Thus the film becomes quickly repetitive, and not much of a watch.
What is powerful in this film are the quick cuts montages, and the stirring music. Both can give brief, sometimes seemingly contextless, moments of stirring grandeur and excitment. The use of these does, howvever, again become repitive over ninety-five minutes.
To conclude, this is a curio and important, but not a great watch. We shall have to see 'October, 1917', 'Ivan The Terrible' and 'The Battleship Potempkin' to find if these issues for the modern viewer are overcome by the great innovator Eisenstein.