Movie: "Earth"

Release Date: Oct 1930 Genre: Drama Runtime: 73 min Cast: Stepan Shkurat (Opanas (as S. Shkurat)) Semyon Svashenko (Vasili 'Basil' Opanas (as...) Yuliya Solntseva (Vasili's sister (as Yu. Solntseva)) Yelena Maksimova (Natalya, Vasili's fiancee (as...) Nikolai Nademsky (Semyon 'Simon' Opanas (as...) Ivan Franko (Arkhip Whitehorse, Khoma's...) Pyotr Masokha (Khoma 'Thomas' Whitehorse...) Vladimir Mikhajlov (Village priest (as V. Mikhajlov)) Pavel Petrik (Young party-cell leader (as P. Petrik)) P. Umanets (Chairman of the village Farm Soviet) Ye. Bondina (Farm girl) Luka Lyashenko (Young Kulak (as L. Lyashenko)) V. Krasenko (Old Peter (uncredited)) M. Matsyutsia (Farm girl (uncredited)) Nikolai Mikhajlov (The Pope (uncredited))

Storyline

Dovzhenko's "film poem" style brings to life the collective experience of life for the Ukranian proles, examining natural cycles through his epic montage. He explores life, death, violence, sex, and other issues as they relate to the collective farms. An idealistic vision of the possibilities of Communism made just before Stalinism set in and the Kulack class was liquidated, "Earth" was viewed negatively by many Soviets because of its exploration of death and other dark issues that come with revolution.