Nation and Memory in Eastern Europe Lecture 17 Cinema, Film and History Week 9, Spring Term.

Nation and Memory in Eastern Europe

Lecture 17Cinema, Film and History

Week 9, Spring Term

Outline1. Historians and Film2. The rehabilitation of the Russian past in the

1930‘s3. Visualising National Literature in Poland 1960-

20004. The making of a national hero: Ukraine after

Independence5. Conclusion

Historians and Film: methodologies

Film as film: watch the films, don’t just read about them; take notes; watch again!

Note dialogue, but also camera movements for mise-en-scène (pan, tilt, point-of-view shots)

Note the cutting techniques (are juxtapositions significant?)

Is a linear narrative being told (classical Hollywood) or is the screen a painterly canvas (European arthouse)?

Production Histories

Who was the director? (auteur theory)How many people made the film (Hollywood

production-line techniques involved hundreds)Who financed the film (private companies,

banks, state?)Who censored the film (what was omitted?)Did new technologies (mobile cameras, sound,

deep-focus film stock) alter filmic possibilities?

Reception Histories

How did the audience respond (what were the box office sales; readers’ letters to press; fan mail to stars?)

How did reviewers rate a film? (do you have a decent range of papers?)

Were certain sociological groups more likely to be viewers (women; families; teenagers)

How did competing technologies (TV in 1950s) change film audiences?

Reception theory: can we know the psychological response of an audience then compared with your viewing now?

IntertextualityIs the film based on a book which you should

consider too?How did the star’s off-screen persona interact

with his/her fictional persona? (‘my character wouldn’t do that…’)

How are directors quoting from one another’s work?

Outline1. Historians and Film2. The rehabilitation of the Russian past in the

1930‘s3. Visualising National Literature in Poland 1960-

20004. The making of a national hero: Ukraine after

Independence5. Conclusion

Alexander Nevsky

1938

Director: Sergei Eisenstein

Mosfilm

Score by Sergei Prokofiev

Plot: 13th c. conflict between the Teutonic Knights and Novgorod. Invasion of Pskov by Knights followed by the massacre of its population. Prince Alexander Nevsky rallies the people of Novgorod and defeats 1242 at a battle on the surface of the frozen Lake Peipus the “Germanic” invaders.

“He who comes to us with a sword, shall die by the sword”

Ivan the Terrible

Part 1 1944 (filmed between 1942 and 1944)

Part 2 1958 (filmed until 1946)

Director: Sergei Eisenstein

Mosfilm

Score by Sergei Prokofiev

Plot I: 17th c.: Ivan’s coronation as Tsar of Russia, proclaiming his intent to unite and protect Russia against foreign armies and against the enemies within. Conquest of Kazan. Boyars poison Ivan’s wife. Prince Andrei Kurbski defects to the Livonians. Ivan abdicates and leaves Moscow, but the people beg him to return, saying that he now rules with absolute power by the will of the people.

Plot II: Ivan takes the land from the boyars with the help of his “iron men” – Oprichnina. Story around assassination attempt against Ivan, who takes revenge against those who were involved in plot to kill his wife.

Outline1. Historians and Film2. The rehabilitation of the Russian past in the

1930‘s3. Visualising National Literature in Poland 1960-

20004. The making of a national hero: Ukraine after

Independence5. Conclusion

The Teutonic Knights (Krzyzacy)

1960

Director: Aleksander Ford

Based on the novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz (1897-1899)

Plot: 14th c. Fight of the Poles and Lithuanians against the Teutonic Order

Love Story 1: Zbyszko and Danusia

Love Story 2: Zbyszko and Jagienka

Story of Jurand from Spychow

The Teutonic Knights (Krzyzacy): Context

Outcome of World War IICommunist rule in PolandLoss of Eastern borderlandsGain of German territory in the WestIntegration of West Germany in Europe and

NATO1960: 550 anniversary of battle used to promote

political ideas of People‘s republic of Poland

The Teutonic Knights (Krzyzacy): Functions

Promoting idea of friendship with the Soviet UnionIdentifying the enemy: Link between Teutonic order,

Bismarck, Hitler and Adenauer (West Germany), German expansionism in the East: 1410 - 1945

Promoting idea of Baltic-Slavic front against the West (Germany)

If today in the Federal Republic of Germany militarism and the dangerous traditions of the crusaders are alive again, the powerful community of the socialist countries will guard the security and integrity of our country. (Marian Biskup 1960)

The Teutonic Knights (Krzyzacy): Functions

Promoting idea of friendship with the Soviet UnionIdentifying the enemy: Link between Teutonic order,

Bismarck, Hitler and Adenauer (West Germany), German expansionism in the East: 1410 - 1945

Promoting idea of Baltic-Slavic front against the West (Germany)

Communist party: profiting from surplus of symbolic capital of Polish nation

Placing Communist Poland in tradition (as culmination) of Polish history

The Teutonic Knights (Krzyzacy): Intertextuality

Historical sourcesSienkiewicz‘s bookMatejko‘s paintingCelebrations in 1902 and 1910 in GaliciaGrunwald monuments (most important monument in

Cracow)Books and articles (research and in newspapers) on

Teutonic order and battle Transformation of site of battle in site of memoryAlexander Ford‘s film „Krzyzacy“

Reception

The most popular Polish film of all times1960 and 1961 more than 30 million people

have seen the film in Poland, more than any other film before or since

Was nominated for an Oscar

With Fire and Sword (Ogniem i Mieczem)

1999

Director: Jerzy Hoffman

Based on the novel of Henryk Sienkiewicz, published in 1884. First volume of the Triology, followed by The Deluge (Potop, 1886), filmed in 1974, and Fire in the Steppe (Pan Wolodyjowski, 1888), filmed in 1969

“To lift up the heart” of the Polish nation

Plot: 17th c. in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Khmelnytsky Uprising. Polish fight against the Cossacks

Outline1. Historians and Film2. The rehabilitation of the Russian past in the

1930‘s3. Visualising National Literature in Poland 1960-

20004. The making of a national hero: Ukraine after

Independence5. Conclusion

A Prayer for Hetman Mazepa

2002

Director: Yuri Ilyenko

Plot: 17th c. The attempt of the Hetman of the Cossacks, Ivan Mazepa, to get rid of the Russian rule by allying with King Charles XII of Sweden against Tsar Peter the Great

A prayer for Hetman Mazepa

Conclusion – History Films

Historical interpretationsHave to be studied in the context of their

production and receptionShape popular views of past eventsGive information about national (and other)

narratives