Earth
A monumental Ukrainian silent film transforms collectivization, mortality, desire, and rural labor into a visually rapturous meditation on revolutionary change.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- lyrical
- solemn
- sensual
- film history study
- arthouse viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly regard Earth as a formally masterful, deeply poetic landmark of world cinema whose lyrical humanism complicates its revolutionary politics.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Dovzhenko organizes rural labor, natural cycles, death, sexuality, and collectivization through epic montage and symbolic compositions.
The collective farm and proletarian community are presented through an idealistic but darkly ambivalent vision of Communist change.
The plot and imagery connect human life, death, harvest, fertility, and collective farming to recurring natural rhythms.
Soviet authorities praised the film's visual mastery while condemning its political content as false and defeatist.
Films like Earth, and why
Battleship Potemkin
poetic Soviet montage, revolutionary politics, and formal experimentation
Man with a Movie Camera
silent-era political drama shaped by collective struggle and innovative editing
The General Line
lyrical rural imagery, social transformation, and avant-garde Soviet filmmaking
October
expressionistic silent cinema and revolutionary-era visual experimentation
Movie Details
- Director
- Alexander Dovzhenko
- Release Date
- 1930-04-08
- Runtime
- 79 min
- Rating
- 6.7 / 10 (160)
Cast
- Stepan Shkurat
- Semyon Svashenko
- Yuliya Solntseva
- Elena Maksimova
- Mykola Nademskyi
- Ivan Franko
- Petro Masokha
- Vladimir Mikhaylov
- Pavlo Petryk
- Pavel Umanets
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Klassiki
- Rent
- Amazon Video
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Takflix
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Earth about?
- A monumental Ukrainian silent film transforms collectivization, mortality, desire, and rural labor into a visually rapturous meditation on revolutionary change.
- What is Earth like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Earth as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Earth violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in Earth as moderate.
- What did critics think of Earth?
- Critics broadly regard Earth as a formally masterful, deeply poetic landmark of world cinema whose lyrical humanism complicates its revolutionary politics.
- Which films are like Earth?
- Films with a similar feel include Battleship Potemkin, Man with a Movie Camera, The General Line, and October.
- How long is Earth?
- Earth runs 79 minutes.
- Where can I watch Earth?
- In United States, Earth streams on Klassiki.
