In this post, you will read an analysis of a key sequence from the Vasil´ev Brothers’ film Chapaev (1934). The aim of this post is to examine how the filmmakers create meaning by using the cinematic resources available to them at the time. Relevant context will also be touched on. The word limit is 750-1000 words. The post’s author is Esme Miller (BA Politics and Sociology and East European Studies).
Sequence Analysis: Chapaev (1934) Directed by Sergey Vasilev and Georgi Vasilyev. Russia, Lenfilm Studio
The sequence I am analysing is taken from the film Chapaev, released in 1934. At the beginning of this scene, Elan, the brigade commander, confronts Chapaev with a wounded arm. Chapaev however, does not respond with compassion and reprimands Elan for sticking his head out at ‘every idiot bullet’ (Chapaev 1934). He rushes over to the table where Furmanov is silently peeling potatoes, empties the bowl and delves into a dramatic commentary about where a commander should position himself on the battlefield; at the ‘rear of his detachment’. The once empty space on the table becomes more and more cluttered as Chapaev throws in different objects to represent different players on the field. This unfolding chaos on the table allows the audience to witness the equally chaotic and sporadic inner-thinking of Chapaev’s mind. The disorganised array of apples, potatoes and cigarettes that are left to explain his tactics, expose the simplistic quality of his character and the simplistic ways in which he thinks. Midway through, the camera focuses in on Furmanov’s face which directs our attention as an audience to his evolving expression. His initial look of indifference breaks into a smirk as his eyes move slowly between table, and Chapaev.
This film was released in 1934, at a time when cinema was newly considered one of the most important mediums of ‘communist enlightenment’ by the Soviet Union (Vroon 1996). As a character, Furmanov represents the voice of the communist party; a force to bring Chapaev to consciousness. He is sent in as commissioner to provide Chapaev with a higher standard of political education, to harness his natural instincts so that he becomes more efficient and reliable as a leader. Therefore, as a figure of knowledge and reason, whose presence is a reminding force of stability for Chapaev, Furmanov is unsurprisingly amused by the initial ramblings of Chapaev and his improvised and simplistic teachings.
This scene becomes somewhat humorous when Chapaev has finished his dramatic enactment and the camera again focuses in, this time on Elans who, struck with a expression bewilderment, breaks into a smile and playfully accuses Chapaev of lying; ‘if you need to be, you yourself are always out front’ (Chapaev 1934). Chapaev loses his stern demeanour and himself begins to laugh, claiming ‘Only if I have to’ (Chapaev 1934). This montage of close-up camera shots between each character’s face and their shifting expressions allows the audience to understand, and equally find amusement in the irony to Chapaev’s ‘big’ enactment. In this moment, Chapaev admits that he considers himself an exception to the rules. In practice, he does not comply to these tactics, which uncovers more about the nature of his character. Not only this, but it functions to foreshadow the ending of the film; In the last few scenes when the Whites attack, Chapaev throws himself at the frontline of defence and is eventually dragged away from the battle by Petrov, refusing to retreat. Although his resilience and stubbornness mean that he is somewhat flawed as a commander, it makes him ever more endearing as a character. Despite his defeat, his selflessness and loyalty are the characteristics which we as an audience most admire by the end of the film. He is ‘full of purely human;’ his imperfections are charming and somewhat reassuring on a humanistic level for audiences, which successfully enforces the ideas of soviet heroism. (Wiley 2016 pp.396).
As part of Soviet propaganda, cinema was utilised as a means of promoting soviet heroism which was the idea that anyone, from any background could achieve heroic status. The character of Chapaev truly embodies these themes. Chapaev allowed audiences to ‘sense the revolutionary heroism of the past and to be profoundly inspired by it’ (Pravda Editorial 1934) Despite his peasantry upbringing, which we discover later in the film, and despite his simplicity and bashfulness demonstrated in this scene, Chapaev eventually earns the status of a hero which projects this message that in Soviet society, anyone has the ability and competence to be a hero of labour.
Filmography
Chapaev (1934) Directed by Sergey Vasilev and Georgi Vasilyev [Film]. Russia, Lenfilm Studio
Bibliography
Hicks, J. ‘Educating Chapaev: from document to myth’, in Russian and Soviet Film Adaptations of Literature, 1900-2001, Screening the Word, ed. S. Hutchings and A. Vernitski, RoutledgeCurzon, London and New York, 2005, pp. 44-58
Pravda editorial of 21 November 1934, translated as ‘The whole country is watching Chapayev’ in R. Taylor and I. Christie (eds), The Film Factory. Russian and Soviet Cinema in Documents 1896-1939, London, 1988; paperback 1994, pp. 334-35
Vroon, R. ‘Dmitrii Furmanov’s Chapaev and the aesthetics of the Russian Avant-Garde’, in Laboratory of Dreams. The Russian Avant-Garde and Cultural Experiments, ed. J. Bowlt and O. Matich, Stanford, 1996, pp. 219-34, 329-32
Wiley, J. (2016). A Companion to Russian Cinema. [ebook] London: Wiley-Blackwell. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books id=HDAxDAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=snippet&q=purely %20human&f=false [Accessed: 01/11/17].