Mat

Summary

Vsevolod Pudovkin’s seminal adaptation of Maxim Gorky’s 'Mat' transcends mere propaganda, evolving into a visceral psychological portrait of political awakening. The narrative centers on Pelageya Nilovna Vlasova, a woman whose spirit has been eroded by the unrelenting grind of industrial poverty and the alcoholism of her husband. When her son, Pavel, becomes embroiled in the clandestine activities of a workers' strike, Pelageya is thrust into a world of ideological fervor she barely comprehends. In a moment of desperate, maternal fragility—believing she is securing her son's safety—she reveals the location of hidden armaments to the Czarist gendarmerie. This act of unintended betrayal becomes the catalyst for her profound metamorphosis. As the state’s machinery of oppression grinds her family into dust, Pelageya’s naive faith in authority dissolves. Her grief is transmuted into a searing revolutionary consciousness, culminating in a legendary sequence where she takes up the red banner during a workers' demonstration, standing as a singular, defiant bastion against the charging cavalry of the old guard.

Synopsis

1st screen adaptation of a literary classic: A mother recognizes the error of her ways after betraying the hiding place of workers' weapons to Czarist authorities, and later joins a demonstration where she addresses a revolutionary crowd.