ALEXANDER NEVSKY

Sergei M. Eisenstein's slice of Soviet propaganda, on the eve of WWII, with a score by Sergei Prokofiev is simply a masterful combination of great images with great music.

The real Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky (1220-1263) was an historical figure whose real exploits have been undoubtedly expanded by legend, so this propaganda was perfectly placed to uphold the Soviet folklore as strong, legend and massively anti-German as Nevsky fends off the Teutonic Knights, portrayed here as religious zealots who seek to bring all of Christendom under the Holy Roman Empire – their crest even parallels the Nazi swastika!

The story of a Russian war hero rallies his people to defeat the invading Germans in 1242 is not his best-known work, undoubtedly that belongs to  ‘Battleship Potemkin’ however its importance to the Russian people - Stalin ordered it shown in every theater to rouse the Russian people after the Nazi invasion of 1941 – and international cinema since is immense.