009 - Alexander Nevsky (1938)

DVD Box

Alexander Nevsky tells the story of a Russian fisherman who is chosen to lead his army against the Teutonic invaders (Germany).

Does this storyline sound familiar?

Now, imagine it's 1938. Didn't something happen around then? Perhaps... World War II?

If you hadn't guessed, despite the film being set in 1252, Alexander Nevsky is a very political film.

It is also in Russian with subtitled biblical English, which makes the storyline difficult to understand (luckily, the entire story is told on the blurb of the DVD box so actually, I might as well have just read that).

Theatrical Poster

The film is sped up, slowed down and in some places it's even reversed. The 'epic battle scenes' are more ebbing (no, that word isn't used in the correct place in the subtitles either) than the actors, and for such a simple film continuity errors are commonplace.

The costumes are probably about right for the era, but they are just comedic. The variety of helmets helps somewhat to decipher who is who, but then people seem to just come back to life mid-shot anyway so who knows?

It comes to something when the scene which drew the biggest laugh was when a baby was thrown into a fire. We're still not entirely sure if there was anyone off camera who caught it.

Halfway through the film my 13-year-old brother walked into the room, boldly declared that he could do much better, and walked out.

I hope he sets his aims higher.

• Empire Review
• Internet Movie Database
• Wikipedia
• Amazon