Film Review
The New Babylon (a.k.a.
Novyy Vavilon) marked the creative
zenith of the collaboration of Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg,
two experimental Russian filmmakers who made some radical advances in
silent cinema during their time at the Factory of the Eccentric Actor
(FEKS), an important film school in Leningrad. Along
with other great Russian cineastes of the period (such as Sergei
Eisenstein and Vsevolod Pudovkin), Kozintsev and Trauberg were pioneers
in the art of montage and
The New
Babylon, their greatest film, shows how its various techniques
can be used effectively to drive home a contemporary political message
through a seemingly unrelated historical fresco. Yet the film is
far more than a propaganda piece championing the virtues of
Soviet-style Communism. It deals with universal themes: the
invincibility of the human spirit and the power of love to transcend
barriers and endure in the face of disaster. It also serves as a
cogent morality play, warning of the dangers that a society faces if it
becomes too stratified, with too great a separation between the haves
and the have-nots. This is a film which, believe it or not, has
as much to say to us today as it had to say to a Soviet audience back
in 1929.
Significantly,
The New Babylon
was the first film to be scored by the great Russian composer Dmitri
Shostakovich (in fact it was the only full-length film for which he
wrote a complete score). Not long after the film's premiere in
1929, Shostakovich's score was removed when several scenes were excised
by the Soviet censor. For the film's recent restoration and
re-issue in 2006, Shostakovich's score was reinstated (with a few
alterations to accommodate some missing footage). It is
remarkable to think that the composer was just 23 when he wrote the
score, one of his most experimental and expressive pieces of
music. Shostakovich's score is not only a perfectly synchronised
match to the images on the screen, it also adds further layers of
feeling, accentuating the pathos and the ironies of the small human
dramas that are contained within the historical whirlwind that is so
powerfully evoked by the film. As the music wryly segues back and
forth between the Marseillaise and Offenbach's can-can, the shallow
self-interest of the bourgeoisie becomes magnified to ludicrous
proportions. We cannot help siding with the unwashed masses as
they bask in their newfound freedom, whilst the loathsome bourgeois
scoundrels plot their revenge from the comfort of Versailles.
Whereas Eisenstein would use elaborate crowd scenes to convey the
unbreakable spirit of the proletariat, Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid
Trauberg achieve a similar result in a more expressionistic way, with
anonymous shadows and silhouettes populating sombre urban landscapes
that evoke the fury of rebellion and the despair of defeat. The
film ends with its most moving, most visually striking sequence, in
which the defeated rebels are assembled and summarily executed under a
relentless barrage of rain. The victorious bourgeoisie watches on
in delight as the low life are brought before a tribunal and sentenced
to death. A woman and a man who met and fell in love during the
siege are reunited - she, a prostitute who must be executed; he, a
lowly solider who must now dig her grave. Although separated by
circumstances, it is evident that they still love one another, and not
even death will keep them apart. The intention of the
bourgeoisie, to crush all hope and vitality from the oppressed working
man, has failed. The Commune will endure, in spirit if not in
name.
© James Travers 2012
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Paris, 1871. As French soldiers set out to fight in the war
against Prussia, the Parisian bourgeoisie continue to amuse themselves,
revelling in all the delights the city has to offer. Business is
brisk at the up-market department store, the New Babylon, a magnet for
well-off pleasure-seekers who delight in hunting bargains. One of
the store's sales assistants, Louise, is surprised when her employer
invites her to a ball that evening. The festivities are abruptly
ended when news is received that the French armies have been defeated
by the Prussians. Fearing they will be murdered in their beds,
the bourgeoisie flee to the Palace of Versailles and are more than
ready to give in to the advancing Prussians. But the poor people
of Paris have no intention of surrendering. Instead, they rise up
and create the Commune, a self-governing mini-republic in which all men
and women are equal, banding together to form an army to defend the
city from further attack. However, the bourgeoisie have the
government troops on their side and it is only a matter of time before
the Commune will fall, allowing the idle rich to move back and resume
their frivolities in gay Paris...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.