DVD: Arsenal & Zvenigora | reviews, news & interviews
DVD: Arsenal & Zvenigora
DVD: Arsenal & Zvenigora
Two silent Soviet classics from the 1920s
Saturday, 19 February 2011
'Arsenal': Its iconic imagery resembles the photographic style of Rodchenko
What a time of ferment of artistic revolution the 1920s were in the Soviet Union. Pioneering arts techniques overlapped for an all-too-brief period with the progressive ideology of communism. Alexander Dovzhenko’s Arsenal and Zvenigora were at the forefront of such trends, but as a Ukrainian his feelings about Moscow’s new leaps forward were ambiguous. Dovzhenko had a deep visual love for the old order, even while he celebrated the dynamism of the new.
What a time of ferment of artistic revolution the 1920s were in the Soviet Union. Pioneering arts techniques overlapped for an all-too-brief period with the progressive ideology of communism. Alexander Dovzhenko’s Arsenal and Zvenigora were at the forefront of such trends, but as a Ukrainian his feelings about Moscow’s new leaps forward were ambiguous. Dovzhenko had a deep visual love for the old order, even while he celebrated the dynamism of the new.
Explore topics
Share this article
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
more Film
theartsdesk Q&A: Eddie Marsan and the American Revolution, posh boys and East End gangsters
Versatile actor on playing John Adams opposite Michael Douglas in Apple TV+’s ‘Franklin'
DVD/Blu-ray: Billy Connolly - Big Banana Feet
The comic caught on the cusp of his fame as he tours Ireland in 1975
Bermondsey Tales: Fall of the Roman Empire review - dirty deeds done dirt cheap
Michael Head's gangland drama is a bit of a dog's breakfast
Two Tickets to Greece review - the highs and lows of a holiday from hell
Laure Calamy, Olivia Côte and Kristin Scott Thomas star in a silly French comedy
Hoard review - not any old rubbish
A star is born amid the muck and squalor of Luna Carmoon's ambitious directorial debut
Blu-ray: Chocolat
Claire Denis' African debut is a nostalgic yet unsparing look at colonial life
DVD/Blu-ray: The Holdovers
Bittersweet, beautifully observed seasonal comedy - not just for Christmas
Our Mothers review - revisiting the horrors of Guatemala's civil war
Hard-hitting first feature from director Cesar Diaz
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes review - a post-human paradise
A richly suggestive new era for the franchise reconnects with its 1968 start
La Chimera review - magical realism with a touch of Fellini
Josh O’Connor excels as an archaeologist turned graverobber in the Italian countryside
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger review - the Archers up close
Adoring tribute by Martin Scorsese to British filmmaking legends
Love Lies Bleeding review - a pumped-up neo-noir
There's darkness on the edge of town in Rose Glass's sweaty, violent New Queer gem
Add comment