The New Babylon

The directing duo of Grigoriy Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg made their most famous silent work with this historical film, set in France during the time of the Paris Commune (spring of 1871). The film mixes together different styles of film-making from D.W. Griffith's historical romanticism to Soviet agitprop with a narrative, that blends philosophy and ideology to a classic story-line about love and war. The film tells the unlikely romance of Louise (Elena Kuzmina) and Jean (Pietr Sobolevsky), who try to find a shared happiness during a time of political turmoil and chaos. Ideology, the spirit of history you could say, is set against their happiness.

The setting itself is a fresh and interesting one, for once an ideological Soviet film is not set during 1917. However, since the depicted time period is that of international mayhem and confusion, the viewer who sits in cold, without first reading a little background, may have trouble understanding the context. Also the first half of this film, which is quasi-episodic in nature, is difficult to follow because of the artistic choices implemented by Kozintsev and Trauberg. The same problem can be found in their earlier adaptation of Gogol's "The Overcoat" called "Shinel" (1926), which also had trouble concentrating on the essential.

However the viewer would be wise to stick with the film, as the second half clarifies much, and as a narrative is much more interesting. Even the editing and cinematography improve during the most distressing sequences. The political message becomes clearer to read, to a point where the film-makers literally spell it out for you. The imagery is very vivid and thought-provoking, and the film that started out as a curiosity with a period setting ends up touching upon several ageless themes and questions.