The life of the genius Soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein was filled to the brim with creativity. He became one of those who were looking for new approaches to creating images. Not all of his experiments were met favorably by the authorities. However, the audience accepted Eisenstein's work and looked forward to his new directorial work.
From the biography of Sergei Eisenstein
The famous Soviet film director was born in January 1898 in Riga. Sergei was the only son of his parents. His father, Mikhail Osipovich, was a real state councilor and knew European languages well, and was punctual in business. The mother of the future film director, Yulia Ivanovna, came from the family of a noble merchant who owned a shipping company.
Sergei Mikhailovich received a standard bourgeois upbringing. Since childhood, he was addicted to reading, drawing beautifully. Among his hobbies was theater. From a young age, he diligently mastered foreign languages.
But Eisenstein's childhood was by no means cloudless: there were often quarrels in the family. In 1912, a final break occurred between the parents. By a court decision, the boy stayed with his father.
Three years later, Sergei graduated from the Riga Real School, after which he continued his education at the Petrograd Institute of Civil Engineers. But he did not complete his studies: he volunteered for the Red Army.
Subsequently, Eisenstein had the opportunity to work as a construction technician and artist at the army political administration. He took part in amateur performances with pleasure, trying himself in the role of an actor, director and artist.
In 1920, Sergei Mikhailovich was assigned to the Academy of the General Staff, where he studied at the courses of translators in the Japanese language class. But after that he went to work in the theater - a simple graphic designer.
In subsequent years, Eisenstein attended classes in director's workshops, which were directed by V. Meyerhold.
Eisenstein's early creative experiments were aimed at breaking up traditional theatrical thinking. He felt cramped within the framework of the conventional art that prevailed on the stage of that time. Therefore, the transition of Sergei Mikhailovich to the cinema was natural.
Creativity of Sergei Eisenstein
Eisenstein released his first film in 1924, giving it the short and capacious title "Strike". The tape was innovative, combining consistency in the description of events and eccentric convention.
Eisenstein was one of the first masters of world cinema to implement his fundamental principles, making this art a "dream factory". But he managed to give his films the pathos of a revolutionary change in the world. Now cinema was becoming a way of influencing the audience.
In 1925, "Battleship Potemkin" was released on the screens of the country, which made the director famous. The images created by Sergei Mikhailovich had explosive power and produced a powerful rebellious effect. That is why it is not surprising that in a number of capitalist countries this tape was banned from showing.
Subsequently, Eisenstein continued to work in the mainstream of the direction he chose and approved at the very top - socialist realism. Milestones on the creative path of the director were his films "Alexander Nevsky" (1938) and "Ivan the Terrible" (1945).
As a talented student and continuer of the Meyerhold cause, Eisenstein also developed a theory of dramatic action. He opened up new possibilities for editing, close-up, rhythm, foreshortening. One of the distinctive features of such cinematography is the unity of image and action, music and word. The director's craving for metaphor and symbolic imagery made him an object of ideological criticism from official structures.
Sergei Eisenstein passed away in Moscow on February 11, 1948. The cause of death was a heart attack. During this time, the director was hard at work on an article on color cinematography.
