Strike is the kind of movie that confounds star ratings. On one hand, I feel I should give it four stars because it is a film of ceaseless ambition and great visual poetry. On the other, it is dense, confusing and esoteric, without any compelling human characters to care about. I am giving it three because no serious cineastes should avoid a film this impressive, I am unsure as to how many will actually "like" it.
I have said that the movie is confusing, but it doesn't appear to be. Let me explain. On one level, the movie is simple- Russian workers plan to strike after one of them is falsely accused of a crime and commits suicide, and the upper classes try to stop them. But to keep track of the dozens of characters, the exact sequence of events and the various visual and historical metaphors that Eisenstien uses. I turned on the DVD commentary track by a Russian film historian to see if it might help me and instead realized how little of the film I was getting. I might be able to better appreciate this film with years of study on Eisenstien and the intricacies of the Russian Revolution and the events that lead up to it, but for the average filmgoer this is going to come off as a beautiful "huh?"
And make no mistake, the movie is gorgeous. As a visual stylist, there were only four contemporaries that he could be compared to- Griffith, Murneau, Lang and Keaton. The Image Entertainment DVD is in great shape and it's easy just to stare in wonder at the visuals and montage (a term that the director invented). Whether you are going to be moved by the plight of the workers is another matter- it's appeal as propaganda is limited because its transparently obvious- the workers are near saints and everyone else are cartoonish villains.
If you are into movies, you cannot avoid the magical works of Sergei Eisenstien, but this is not the place to start. His best and most accessible film is Alexander Nevsky, which features one of the best battle sequences ever filmed. In a way, Strike is to movies what Fininian's Wake is to novels- you know it's good and the guy who made is obviously a genius, but is the end result worth the time it will take understand it?
Strike (1924)