Mikhail Romm, His Movies About Lenin

Ленин в 1918 году, Михаил Ромм, 1939
в роли Ленина – Борис Щукин
(source: wikimedia)
no copyright infringement intended

when a viewer chooses a film made in the times of Stalin, he should be ready for the ideological pathos that it will most surely contain; if one is able to either treat it with condescension, attributing much to the time, or to keep in mind a vivid image of the historical period and try to imagine himself in the place of the original viewers, he is bound to be in for an immensely pleasant experience; if not, it would be better to completely avoid early Soviet cinema - for the sake of not labeling as bad something that has simply not been fully understood (recordaras)

a well-known and able filmmaker who managed to make intelligent work like this even under the constraints of Stalinism (mikebailey823)


Along the years Mikhail Romm had to come back and rework his movies about Lenin several times, as the heroes exalted sometime by the Soviet propaganda were suddenly becoming the villains to be erased from history. In the 30's Romm had to exclude from the footage the figure of any of the bolsheviks condemned throughout the Stalinist purges - and especially to present Stalin as the closest companion of Lenin (regardless of how close or loose had actually been everything). Later, in the 60's, Romm had to revisit the footage and shrink the size of Stalin as much as he could. And Mikhail Romm did very carefully his job each time. They were propaganda movies, and that's expected from a propaganda movie, to keep in line.

Thus, if you want to understand what really happened in Russia in 1917-1918, forget about. Or maybe you will understand something else, the way the Soviet society of the thirties was getting the Stalinist version of the story. But, if you are interested in movie art, you will understand the fine quality of the filmmaker who was Mikhail Romm. His movies about Lenin have no connection with what really happened. Just propaganda. Still, they build a cinematographic universe, fake of course, while extremely humane and extremely convincing. Mikhail Romm had a superb grasp of the small details of life, those small details that fill our existence. It was his immense experience acquired during the Civil War years, as he traveled throughout Russia all azimuths, and knew a lot of people facing a lot of situations. And these two propaganda movies are full of these small details, thus no wonder that behind what's told on the screen you feel some untold stories about anonymous men and women who had happened to live in those years and for better or worse had happened to make things happen.

Ленин в октябре, 1937
(video by Киноконцерн "Мосфильм")

Ленин в 1918 году, 1939
(video by Классика советского кино (официальный канал))

(Mikhail Romm)

Mikhail Romm

Михаи́л Ильи́ч Ромм
(Mikhail Romm)
1901 - 1971
(source: wikimedia)
no copyright infringement intended

• Ordinary Fascism (1965)
• Ordinary Fascism (the whole movie)
• Mikhail Romm, His Movies About Lenin

(Russian and Soviet Cinema)

Mikhail Romm - Ordinary Fascism (the whole movie)

Мы, Ромм и кинокамера
by Юрий Ханютин, Майя Туровская
(http://seance.ru/blog/myi-romm-i-kinokamera/)

I was maybe thirteen or fourteen when I encountered the name of Mikhail Romm for the first time. I borrowed from the library a book that was definitely too difficult for my age: Sadoul's history of the cinematography (the exact title was Histoire du cinéma mondial, des origines à nos jours, in a Romanian translation). I read it entirely, I understood what I could understand at thirteen or fourteen. I remember that some place in the book Sadoul was mentioning a trio of Soviet directors, seemingly considered by him as the best of the 1930's: Eisenstein, Pudovkin, Romm. So that was my first encounter with Mikhail Romm.

Actually it wasn't my first encounter with him: as a kid I had watched his Admiral Ushakov, only I was too small to take care of such details as the name of the director.

I watched then during my life some of the masterpieces of Eisenstein. I haven't yet watched any of Pudovkin's movies, furtunately I will soon correct this lack in my cinematic culture: I have just bought a dvd with Storm over Asia!

With Romm I met second time in the 1970's when I watched his 9 дней одного года: two young scientists, close friends, are exploring new fields of nuclear physics, while both in love for the same woman; they are played by Batalov and Smoktunovski.

Two years ago I wrote about Mikhail Romm's Ordinary Fascism (Обыкновенный фашизм). I was saying, a movie that made the choice of accusing the Nazi regime by presenting its day-to-day normal life... a documentary made in 1965 using footage from the archives of the Third Reich... the images speak for themselves.

I found today on youTube the whole movie.

Обыкновенный фашизм
(video by Nazarij K)

The movie was made in the Soviet Union in 1965, and I think it was a very courageous movie. And that because it used footage from the archives of the Third Reich. I don't think using this footage would have been allowed earlier than the 1960's. It is true that the director used this footage to make his point, to demonstrate the evil of Nazism, maybe also the banality of evil. And to make his point, Romm selected the footage and edited it carefully. Add to this the off-comment. However, it was original footage from the Nazi period, and so the public had somehow the possibility to judge for themselves, to get their own conclusions. Watching it now, what it strikes me is the similitude with images from the Communist regime, in the USSR or Romania or wherever. The same enthusiasm on the faces of people gathered in huge demonstrations, on huge stadiums, the same sparkle on the eyes of children, believing in the golden dream, the same sleep of reason. The same mix in small dozes of good faith, self-deception, cowardice, egotism, enthusiasm, despair. Together.

But now, in 2011, I know much more about the evil that I knew in 1965.


(Mikhail Romm)

Mikhail Romm - Ordinary Fascism (1965)

Обыкновенный фашизм, 1965
(image source: ebay)
no copyright infringement intended

Обыкновенный фашизм, the documentary made by Mikhail Romm in 1965, using footage from the archives of the Third Reich. It is known in US and UK under various names: Ordinary Fascism, A Night of Thoughts, Triumph Over Violence, Trumps Over Violence, Echo of the Jackboot. I haven't seen it. From Romm's movies I saw only 9 дней одного года (Nine Days of One Year, with an unforgettable duo, Batalov and Smoktunovsky), and, as a kid, Admiral Ushakov. However, I knew about Обыкнobенный фашизм and even today I recommended someone to watch it if he would have the opportunity. I was based on what I read about this documentary and on what I heard about it.

• the whole movie

(Mikhail Romm)