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Information
- A.k.a.
- Alexander Nevsky
- Year
- 1938
- Runtime
- 112 min.
- Directors
- Sergei Eisenstein, Dmitriy Vasilev
- Genres
- Action, Drama, War, Biography, History
- Rating *
- 7.5
- Votes *
- 7,128
- Checks
- 2,443
- Favs
- 135
- Dislikes
- 22
- Favs/checks
- 5.5% (1:18)
- Favs/dislikes
- 6:1
Top comments
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flaiky
I understand that this was a propaganda film, but I just couldn't get past the strident patriotism and militarism. The battle sequence was way too long for me as well. 9 years 7 months ago -
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Siskoid
Alexander Nevsky may be about a 13th-Century Russian prince fighting an army of German Teutonic knights, but given that Eisenstein made in 1938, there's little doubt it's meant to be about Nazi forces amassing on the Soviets' Western border, and indeed serves as a patriotic call to arms in which the title character is not just defeated the Vikings and plans to stick it to the Mongols once he's done with the Germans, but also frequently leads his people into songs about Mother Russia. In this, and in many long, silent sequences, we recognize the film maker's roots in silent cinema, and where there's dialog, the pace is rather slow. This is quite the piece of propaganda, and Nevsky is a two-dimensional character because of it. More interesting are some of the soldiers who follow him - the blacksmith, the two rivals for a girl's affections - and through these we get an emotional context and a bit of heart. Unfortunately, everything takes too long in this film, and it's frequently tedious because of it. It seems to take forever for Nevsky to get involved, the battle is seemingly endless (and the cranked camera doesn't do the action any favors even if the shows are well composed and feature hundreds of extras), and there's a very long epilogue too. Still memorable, mainly because of some shockingly violent (albeit brief) moments. 4 years 3 months ago
Friends
Login to see which of your friends have seen this movie!In 11 official lists
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This movie ranks #11 in The New York Times's Book of Movies
The New York Times's Boo…
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This movie ranks #13 in Amos Vogel's Film as a Subversive Art
Amos Vogel's Film as a S…
13 -
This movie ranks #21 in The Guardian's 1000 Films to See Before You Die
The Guardian's 1000 Film…
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This movie ranks #24 in Russian Guild of Film Critics's Best Russian Films
Russian Guild of Film Cr…
24 -
This movie ranks #39 in Halliwell's Top 1000: The Ultimate Movie Countdown
Halliwell's Top 1000: Th…
39 -
This movie ranks #90 in The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection
90 -
This movie ranks #94 in Harvard's Suggested Film Viewing: Narrative Films
Harvard's Suggested Film…
94 -
This movie ranks #133 in BFI's 360 Classic Feature Films Project
BFI's 360 Classic Featur…
133 -
This movie ranks #182 in Jonathan Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema
Jonathan Rosenbaum's Ess…
182 -
This movie ranks #201 in David Thomson's Have You Seen?
David Thomson's Have You…
201 -
This movie ranks #542 in TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest Films
TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest F…
542