Ivan the Terrible Part I

This film was seemingly a vintage creation of Eisenstein. Most of the actors in the movie had 'wild eyes'. Many of the looks that characters shot to each other- or had while they were scheming - were characterized by eyes that seemed as though they would pop out of the characters' heads. Eisenstein also did a lot of work with shadows in this film. Perhaps one of my favorite scenes from the entire movie occured when the shadow of Ivan the Terrible loomed over the globe that he had in his chamber. Some of the other tell-tale aspects of this movie that would have lead one to believe that Eisenstein was the director were the costumes, body actions of the actors, and the music. In my opinion, Eisenstein brilliantly used costumes to convey the good or evil of the characters. Anastasia was clothed in white throughout the entire movie to portray her purity while contrastingly the sly Efrosinia was almost completely covered in black to display her dark intentions. Sometimes, the body language of the characters seemed to be a little overdone, which would lead one to believe that the director had previously been involved in silent films (since he sometimes called for exaggerated actions). Still, my favorite part of this movie was the music. In Battleship Potemkin, Eisenstein created a scenario that was filled with suspense at the impending naval battle at the end of the movie. Now that he had music at his disposal - especially the music of the talented Prokofiev - he was able to create suspense to an even greater extent. An example of this would be when Ivan picked up the poisoned chalice to give to Anastasia to drink. The hesitation to drink on the part of Anastasia coupled with the anxious music forced me to suppress the urge to scream, "DON'T DRINK IT!" In addition, I felt that Eisenstein used a similar type of montage that he used in Battleship Potemkin; although I would argue that he perhaps refined his montages to meet the standard form that had seemingly developed.

Ivan the Terrible clearly ruled his territory with an iron fist. He had no qualms about beheading citizens that challenged his authority or persecuting Boyars he felt threatened by. Yet, he did not strike me as the type of person that would be fine ruling on his own. He thrived upon the support of his friends - Kurbsky in particular - and his wife. Without their help he was prone to have breakdowns (as he periodically had). Ivan was seemingly a neutral force in this movie. He had his moments of glory - freeing his people from the Mongol yoke - and his moments of shame (fleeing Moscow). Like Stalin, Ivan was apparently power crazed and prone to psychological problems. Neither of the two placed much value on life. However, Ivan rewarded and valued those that he could trust and those with abilities. In my opinion, whereas Ivan wanted somebody to trust and had trouble finding anybody, Stalin simply did not trust anybody and persecuted anybody with abilities.

The Boyars were merely aristocrats that wanted their authority within Russia to continue. In my estimation, they were not necessarily villains (aside from Efrosinia because she committed murder) but rather people that were unwilling to change. The Boyars were the 'old guard' - so to speak - concerned with preserving the aristocratic way of life in Russia. They had no desire for a united Russia because they were not striken by poverty. Most likely, they could tax their subjects (serfs?) to raise money for the periodic tribute to the Tatars without sustaining any financial losses themselves.

Ivan came into conflict with the Boyars because he desired to unite Russia and eliminate all foreign influences within the country. He wanted the Russian people to be subjected to the dominance of the Boyars no more than he desired for them to be ruled by the Tatars and Germans. Ivan fit into the Socialist Realist mold because of his quest to unite Russia and free the Russian people from the dominance of foreign influences. However, the hero of Ivan the Terrible was a Tsar. Ivan stood for aristocracy because of being a Tsar and the Soviets were against the aristocratic lifestyle. Many of the characters often had lavish clothes - rings especially - and possessions. Soviets wanted their people to live a life of simplicity which was the polar opposite to the life that Ivan was living in this movie.