Strike
A formally explosive silent Soviet drama transforms a factory strike into a tragic symphony of collective resistance and state repression.
Overview
A gripping portrayal of the struggle for workers' rights in a time of oppression and despair.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Extreme
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Graphic
- urgent
- grotesque
- oppressive
- film history study
- political cinema viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly regard Eisenstein's debut as a landmark of Soviet montage, praising its rhythmic invention, harsh imagery, and political force while noting its eccentric grotesquerie and formal excess.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The strike committee and factory workers carry the narrative, with individual characters functioning within a broader movement.
Eisenstein builds the strike, repression, spies, and military assault through collisions of concrete and symbolic images.
The film combines factory and street realism with caricatural spies, provocateurs, and authorities.
Workers, factory architecture, police, fire crews, and soldiers are arranged as rhythmic collective bodies within the industrial landscape.
Films like Strike, and why
Battleship Potemkin
shared silent-era Soviet revolutionary cinema, montage editing, collective protagonists, and political propaganda
October: Ten Days That Shook the World
shared Eisensteinian montage, revolutionary subject matter, stylized mass choreography, and silent-film form
Man with a Movie Camera
shared Soviet montage tradition, revolutionary politics, and experimental editing built around collective social action
Metropolis
shared labor conflict, institutional oppression, and politically charged depiction of collective resistance
Movie Details
- Director
- Sergei Eisenstein
- Release Date
- 1925-04-28
- Runtime
- 89 min
- Rating
- 7.4 / 10 (254)
Cast
- Maksim Shtraukh
- Grigori Aleksandrov
- Mikhail Gomorov
- Ivan Klyukvin
- Aleksandr Antonov
- Vladimir Uralskiy
- Anatoliy Kuznetsov
- I. Ivanov
- Yudif Glizer
- Vera Yanukova
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Criterion Channel, FlixFling, TCM
- Rent
- Amazon Video, FlixFling
- Buy
- Amazon Video, FlixFling
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Strike about?
- A formally explosive silent Soviet drama transforms a factory strike into a tragic symphony of collective resistance and state repression.
- What is Strike like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Strike as brisk, its intensity as extreme and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Strike violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Strike as graphic.
- What did critics think of Strike?
- Critics broadly regard Eisenstein's debut as a landmark of Soviet montage, praising its rhythmic invention, harsh imagery, and political force while noting its eccentric grotesquerie and formal excess.
- Which films are like Strike?
- Films with a similar feel include Battleship Potemkin, October: Ten Days That Shook the World, Man with a Movie Camera, and Metropolis.
- How long is Strike?
- Strike runs 89 minutes.
- Where can I watch Strike?
- In United States, Strike streams on Criterion Channel, FlixFling, TCM.
