MovieChat Forums > Aleksandr Nevskiy (1939) Discussion > Commies and Christians

Commies and Christians

posted 15 years ago by lordgoblinking
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Obviously, this film is pure Soviet propaganda, aimed at rallying the Russian people to fight against the Germans, while warning the Germans not to attack Russia or else. Fair enough.

But what I found interesting was this: Although historically, in 1242 both sides would have been Christians, the Teutonic Knights in the film are shown as uber-Christian (and evil), while no mention is made of Christianity on the Russian side. No coincidence that the priests are super ugly, either. Near the end of the film, when there is a close-up shot of the [Russian] church, a sculpture is shown (albeit technically a Christian sculpture) but no crosses. As this is a communist (and therefore anti-religion) film, none of this is surprising. But I did find it amusing that the Christianity was played up for the Germans, and downplayed for the Russians, which is not histoircally accurate.

"Dude, it's Lord Goblin King, not Lord Go Blinking!"

[–] o0260o 15 years ago

Yea its propaganda. Except the Teutonic knights were catholic and they were a religion controlled army. It is downplayed because Nevsky was not driven by religion but rather by nationalism (so it seemed). They made him an official saint in 16th century and being recognized as a great hero is not really anti-religious.

[–] lordgoblinking 15 years ago

I think the religion of Nevsky was downplayed because this movie was made by anti-religion communists. I would have to believe that in the 13th century the Russians would have been just as religious as the Germans (although possibly Greek-Orthodox as opposed to Catholic). I'm not saying being recognized as a hero is anti-religious. I'm saying that the communists don't care if Nevsky was a saint because that means nothing to them, whereas being a hero of the Motherland does.

"Dude, it's Lord Goblin King, not Lord Go Blinking!"

[–] Bluehawk2008 15 years ago

Russian Orthodox would make more sense ;)

[–] fredbel6 13 years ago

If you watch Ivan the Terrible I and II, also by Eisenstein, you see a difference in style. It's not a black and white as Battleship Potemkin or Alexander Nevsky, and the church plays a - well- more realistic role (as it probably did at the time)

Maybe that's also why the third part was not finished.

[–] Aticusfinch 15 years ago

I don´t agree with that. If you watch carefully the next time you see the movie you´ll see very clear parallels between Nevsky and Christ. His physical appearance to begin with. The first time we see him, he literally walks on water and he is surrounded by fishermen. At the end of the movie he mentions the ones who betray him as a "second Judas"- implying he´s a second Christ-.

His presence is surrounded by magic and mistery; we see him all of a sudden in the middle of a room but we haven´t seen him entering it. The same thing happens at the triumphant parade at Pskov. We don´t see him passing through the gates, but suddenly he´s inside the city. While fighting the Grand Master he is handling a sword, a split of a second later it´s an axe.

Although the communist regime was atheist, there was a very clear attempt in this movie to appeal subtly to the Christian feelings of the Russian orthodoxs, that they knew to be profound, showing Nevski as a kind of reborn Christ that comes both to kill the enemies of the Russian people and restore the real Christianity, perverted - in the orthodox view - by Papists and Germans. Of course another implicit conclusion is that the third Christ would be Stalin.

[–] CharlesVariations 13 years ago

Stalin allowed religious Holidays during his reign (after Lenin had them banned) as well as re-opening churhces to boost morale for the people at the time of war.

[–] Squeeth2 13 years ago

I liked the pagan imagery around the Rooshians and the "christianity" associated with the Teutons, it reminded me of the prating of American presidents as they preside over yet another massacre.

Marlon, Claudia and Dimby the cats 1989-2005, 2007 and 2010.

[–] speilbrick-1 13 years ago

Well, there's certainly "mention" made of Christianity on the Russian side - you missed a lot of visuals - but it's certainly true that the fanaticism is counted against the Germans. Really, though, this film is about nationalism being projected onto a historical period where it didn't exist, nor would it have made any sense to the people involved. The mention of the Pope is really just to say that the Germans are linked to the West, and the Russians are not. The same goes for the obvious differences in music - German Catholics have their somber dirges, Russians are Orthodox and have their choirs and folk music. It's all there to further contrast the differences in national identity.

[–] Aloysius_von_der_Trenck 8 years ago

Although historically, in 1242 both sides would have been Christians,

Theoretically, yes, but don't forget what took place two centuries before in 1054, the Great Schism.

https://graceuniversity.edu/iip/2011/08/11-08-20-2/