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alexander nevsky features some of the most beautiful imagery that you will ever see in a film; a justifiably famous, majestic music score by prokofiev; and a dazzling, climactic battle on a frozen lake. however, this sergei eisenstein epic is perhaps most intriguing as a reflection of its time. while alexander nevsky is set in 1242, its scenario could just as easily be unravelling in 1938, the year in which it was completed.
the setting is the part of russia under constant invasion by mongolian raiders. the fisherman / prince alexander nevsky (nikolai cherkassov, in a brilliantly authoritative performance) learns of a plot by the teutonic knights to attack the country. while some of the russian leaders would rather pacify the invaders, the masses instead choose to mobilize, selecting nevsky as their commander. the teutons win a number of victories, and even capture the city of pskov. in the finale, an extended sequence which dramatically overpowers all that has come before it, nevsky and his forces take on the teutons in the battle of the ice.
the parallels between this scenario and the world situation in 1938 are unmistakable. at that time, russia was in danger of attack by hitler and the fascist forces then rapidly engulfing europe. the film, in eisenstein's view, served as a statement of confidence that his country could - and would - repel any imperialistic aggression. certainly, the teutons' barbaric acts in pskov mirror the reality of germany's behavior toward the nations about to crumble before it; in the first draft of the alexander nevsky script, swastikas even appeared in the invaders' helmets. ironically, the film was taken out of circulation in the soviet union in 1939, upon the signing of the german-soviet pact. history records that, in the end, the germans of the mid-20th century proved as equally imperialistic as the germans of the mid-13th century...
Nikolai Cherkasov