Eisenstein, Cinema, and History

Among early directors, Sergei Eisenteinstands alone as the maker of a fully historical cinema. James Goodwin treatsissues of revolutionary history and historical representation as central toan understanding of Eisentein's work, which explores two movements within Soviethistory and consciousness: the Bolshevik Revolution and the Stalinist state.Goodwin articulates intersectionsbetween Eisentein's ideas and aspects of the thought of Walter Benjamin, GeorgLukÁcs, Ernst Bloch, and Bertolt Brecht. He also shows how the formalproperties and filmic techniques of each work reveal perspectives on history. Individual chapters focus on Strike, Battleship Potemkin, October, Old and New, projects of the 1930s, Alexander Nevsky, and Ivan the Terrible.