Sergei Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky is a classic masterpiece of film created during a critical time in the history of the Soviet Union and Russia. Released in 1938, the film portrayed the life of legendary Russian leader St. Alexander Nevsky who was faced with the task of saving Russia from both the Teutonic Knights and the Swedes and reviving a nation dwelling under the yolk of the Mongols. The film focuses on Nevsky's epic struggle with the Teutonic Knights, who are clearly meant to represent the imminent threat of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in what would soon become World War II. Importantly, however, the film was a propaganda film that strove to unite the varied peoples of the (relatively young) Soviet Union under the common banner of freedom from outside conquest. The highly Russian nature of the film (presenting as it does Russian characters and Russian interests) renders it perhaps unsuccessful at appealing to the non-Russian natives of the Soviet Union, but certainly the film must have been inspiring to the Russians that knew the Germans were near in the late 1930s.
Alexander refuses the Mongols' offer to become a general in their service.
The film begins when Prince Alexander receives a Mongol deputation and rejects their offer of becoming a general in their armies. At this time (in 1242), the people of Rus are ruled by the Mongols as vassal states. The Mongols are interested in Nevsky because he has recently defeated the Swedes in battle. Meanwhile, the Teutonic Knights have just captured the critically important and large Russian city of Pskov and are on their way to Novgorod the Great (called 'Lord Novgorod' in the translation that I viewed). The greedy merchants of Novgorod debate turning over their city to the Teutonic Knights (who are shown murdering innocent civilians in Pskov and tossing children onto giant pyres to be killed), but the brave sons of the city win out and decide to send word to Alexander Nevsky in order to ask him to become their prince. Nevsky receives the envoys from Novgorod at Pereslavl and agrees to become their prince. He travels to Novgorod and rallies the army. After a fierce battle, Nevsky defeats the Teutonic Knights; in particular, Nevsky singles out the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights for a man-to-man battle. In a classic scene, hundreds of Teutonic Knights are lured to their deaths on a lake of ice. The analogy here, of Russia luring foreign invaders within the nation (to their deaths) as was done to Napoleon in 1812, is clear.
The costumes of the Teutonic Knights are garish and theatrical, in particular the helmets.
Alexander Nevsky is a powerful piece of propaganda, in part due to the rousing score by Prokofiev. The attempt to portray the Russian people as inseparable from their great land, unlike the nations that infrequently invaded the Medieval Rus, is stressed repeatedly. In particular, Nevsky makes a comment in the beginning of the film that he has no desire to leave his country to fight foreign wars, he is content merely to defend it. The filmmakers (perhaps recalling the massive deaths suffered in World War I) seem to stress the importance of sacrificing one's life for one's country, and a moving scene in the latter stage of the film is the battlefield strewn with Russian bodies. In actuality, a nation like the Soviet Union relied on the devotion of the populace to idealogical views that the individual should allow himself to be subsumed into something greater than himself (his nation), even to his own detriment. That the interests of the Russian nation may not be the same as the interests of say, the Estonian or the Georgian nation, is entirely ignored. Frankly, this is worth noting because, as Americans, being self-serving is an essential part of American culture and forms a sharp contrast to this type of Soviet/Russian propaganda. The Soviet Union attempted, at least in this form of propaganda, to reduce the masses of peasants to obedient automatons (not unlike the Czars), but unlike the Czars, the Soviets at least made an attempt to argue why the everyday Russian should care.
The Teutonic Knights toss the children of Pskov into the flames.
Interestingly, before viewing Alexander Nevsky, I had been informed that the film served as an inspiration for 1982's Conan the Barbarian (which has a surprisingly low rating of 6.8 on IMDB) and the imagery and religious symbolism is patently obvious. Interesting fact, that. Alexander Nevsky moves slowly as you would expect of a film for the era, but it deserves its position as one of the greats.
Alexander Nevsky prepares for battle.
Alexander leads his troops against the Teutonic Knights.
