the maximum psychological impact.
Thus, the filmmaker should aim to establish in the consciousness of the spectators the elements that would lead them to the idea he wants to communicate. He should attempt to place them in the spiritual state or the psychological situation that would give birth to that idea. He theorized that cinema was a synthesis of art and science. These principles guided Eisenstein's entire career, and had a major impact on filmmakers to this day for its stark contrast to "American-style" narrative montage.
In "Strike", which recounts the repression of a strike by the soldiers of the tsar, Eisenstein juxtaposed shots of workers being mowed down by machine guns with shots of cattle being butchered in a slaughterhouse. The effect was striking, but the objective reality was falsified.
In 1925, in order to commemorate the Revolution of 1905, the Communist Party commissioned the renowned film "Potemkin" (also called " battleship Potemkin"). The film was made in the Black Sea port of Odessa. In 1958 it was voted the best film ever made, by an international poll of critics.
Eisenstein's next film was the two hour film, "October" or "Ten Days That Shook the World", dealing with the shifts of power between the 1917 February and October revolutions, Lenin's entering the scene and the struggle of the Bolsheviks with their opponents. Eisenstein sets his camera for the kind of unconventional angle that made him a great director. "Old and New"
After some other controversial works, like "Old and New" ("The General Line"), "Romance Sentimentale" and "Thunder over Mexico", Eisenstein was able to make a film recounting the medieval epic of "Alexander Nevsky", in accordance with Stalin's policy of glorifying Russian heroes. Made in 1938 the film represented the triumph of collectivism. With a score written by famed Russian composer Prokofiev, the film combined images and music into a single rhythmic unity.
Continually seeking to expand the filmmaking craft, Eisenstein drew upon his early interest in Japanese Kabuki theatre and Noh drama and their use of masks in his last film "Ivan the Terrible". During World War II, Eisenstein began work on this epic film about the 16th-century Tsar Ivan IV, whom Stalin admired. Before he could finish the third part of the film, Eisenstein died, a few days after his 50th birthday, on February 11, 1948. His political agendas may not have been fulfilled, but his revolutionary advances in film theory and montage will not be long forgotten.