3rd Alexander Dovzhenko (after Earth and Arsenal)Dovzhenko takes to sound like a duck to water, slowing its rhythms down to almost the level of incantation, a collective paean to the wonders of a new hydroelectric plant on the Dnieper River. The best moments here are not the strangely wooden conversations between the thinly defined characters but the moments where Dovzhenko lets his camera roam free through the under-construction dam. Shot from the very top, surveying the land below, the breathtaking spectacle is almost overwhelming. While it ostensibly may be about the titular character, a typical Soviet hardworker who finds himself the victim of an industrial accident, in reality the film is about that grand spectacle, that sweep of the land working in unison to achieve a goal. Soviet propaganda cinema from the era (because this is propaganda at its heart) always feels uncomfortable to watch for the way in which it elides the nasty truths of the era; in this case, the Holodomor that was gradually taking place across Ukraine while this was release, part of a calculated attempt to stifle Ukranian sovereignty that Dovzhenko held so dear. The wide open spaces and bountiful harvests seem hollow in retrospect, a slight bitterness to a pill of great optimism and lyrical beauty. My favourite Dovzhenko so far.Dovzhenko in Order:1. Ivan2. Earth3. Arsenal
