Chapaev – 1934 Directed By: The Vasilev brothers

Chapaev – 1934 Directed By: The Vasilev brothers

It amazes me to realize that projects can be altered to chose the mindset of the viewers in which was to the best interest of the director(s). The propaganda that was allowed to give people false accounts of not only historical events, but current ones as well onward to what the future would be like.

In watching this film I had realized that the directors attempted to show change within some of the characters in how they reacted toward one another. I’m not sure if that was a major part of the story but it stuck out to me as a viewer. I did question, however, the legitimacy of the change when Chapaev, made remarks while he was being talked to in one part of the film. There were emotional tid bits throughout the storyline that helped make the characters real to me, as a viewer. For example, When Petka had groped Anka all in the name of showing her the “right” way to build the Maxim Gun, she caught on real quickly though and they moved forward with the training as planned.

I was lost in the fight as the horseman came up after the war seemed to have been won (Defeating Colonel Borozdin?). They seemed as if they were going to shoot but I do not recall anyone saying that they were on their side, maybe it was a quick word or two that I missed or the action wasn’t as big as the battle for me to catch that reaction or acknowledgement that the individuals on the horses were their comrades.

Does anyone question, in the film, whether or not Chapaev really was shot in the water as I did? It felt as if he really gave up after only having one wounded arm. He was limping and looked as if his sidekick (Petka) had to hold him a bit more for an arm wound. I’m not saying, I’d want to have someone shoot my arm and see how it feels, but in reality, your feet have nothing to do with your elbow. The waterfront wasn’t THAT far from the door. I can see the water being a problem but not beforehand.

The Vasilev brothers or the character generator had used two unknown words to me: Steppe and Slovenly.

Name calling was a big thing as once I heard a derogatory comment such as, “Red-Tape Worm”

Even with the nit picking I am doing with the characters and their response to one another, I still would watch this project for its attention to the characters relationships, timeline of the story, the use of multiple locations, and the continuity of the props and outfits used during the period of 1934.

Does anyone know whether or not this was a single camera project or not? Also who chose the lighting of films on set for the Russian Cinema projects? Is it always a rule for the director to choose or is there another position that corrects any lighting during filming or location changes. How did they depict night or day and yet obtain quality footage in the early 30’s like we see in this project.

This project may appeal to a larger audience because of the relatable events that happen personally. There were so many individuals that had seem to have an open mind enough to listen to what someone else had to say and ended up changing how they are themselves. I hope that what I just wrote makes some sense at all.

When I think of the sound in the Battleship Potemkin, I think of loud and over the top in many instances, but for this Vasilev brothers project I feel that the dialogue makes is possible to tame the dramatic music and keep an even amount of music Vs vocalization to attract a larger part of the crowd that watches the film.