1812 god

Superbly directed by Vasili Goncharov - one of the titans of pre-Soviet cinema - Kai Hansen and Aleksandr Uralsky, 1812 God commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Patriotic War in which Russia repelled an invasion by the French, led by Napoleon. The composition of some shots in this lengthy (for 1912) offering is hugely impressive, with the directors demonstrating an appreciation of depth of image previously unthought of. Recommended.

To mark the 100 year anniversary of Napoleon's invasion of Moscow, both Russia and France collaborated on making director Vasily Goncharov's "1812." Released in August 1912, the film became the first time in cinematic history two countries teamed up to create a movie.

One reason was the costs to make such an epic motion picture. Thousands of extras were attired in period uniforms to fight it out on the battlefield leading to Moscow by two gigantic armies. The Russian Army was lent to the project by Czar Nicholas to reduce the costs of the budget while France took care to film their side of the marching and fighting.

Another reason was political. Things were beginning to heat up in Europe with alliances being selected two years before World War One. Russia didn't want to upset an ally despite the two countries duking it out 100 years before with the French invading Russia.

What makes this movie so rare to see today is once the Bolsheviks took over Russia in 1917-1918, the new government didn't want to recognize the Patriotic War's lineage of the previous Czars and the leaders who undertook Russia's path towards victory. There is very little preserved from that period of early Russian cinema. "1812" is an exception which over 30 minutes of a much longer program is in existence today.

Many people, even those with an understanding of film history, seem to think there were no Russian films before the rise of the Academicians in the 1920s. The Soviets had little interest in praising the works of the Tsarist period; little is available, except for those few works distributed worldwide by the Pathe organization; nor had Soviet cinema broken free of its roots in stage and portraiture.

There was a major industry, and Vasili Goncharov was a major player, until his death in 1915. Although the IMDb shows this film of the French occupation of Moscow as a short, in the era it was produced, it was a feature.

The modern viewer will have some issues with it. The acting, particularly by Pavel Knorr as Napoleon, is stagy and its format is that of the illustrated text that was beginning to go out of style even then. However, Goncharov and his co-directors clearly know what they are doing. Although the shots are held for what is today for an excruciatingly long time, the compositions are fine and there is plenty of movement within the frame (usually consisting of masses of soldiers). Viewed as a modern film, 1812 will not be particularly good. Viewed as an example of a different film grammar, it is very good.