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6.3/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.3/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Black and White remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have three minutes and want to see how 1930s Soviet Russia viewed American racism, this is worth a quick look. History buffs will love the sheer weirdness of it, but anyone wanting a cozy story will hate it. 🎬
It is a heavy, blunt instrument of a movie. There is zero subtlety here.
Based on a poem by Vladimir Mayakovsky, the film is just a series of angry, stark images. You see Black men working in fields, walking in chains, and facing the electric chair.
The white authority figures are drawn like bloated, giant monsters. They hold massive whips and look completely soulless.
There is this one shot of a man in the electric chair. The screen flashes black and white so fast it actually made my eyes hurt a bit.
I kept thinking about how different this is from American silent films of the time, like The Fighting Heart. Those had actual characters, but this just has raw, angry symbols.
The animation is pretty clunky. Sometimes a character's arm just teleports from one side of the screen to the other without any transition.
But that rough style makes it feel more alive. It is like someone made it in a dark basement with scissors and glue while screaming at the news.
One weird detail: the chains on the prisoners look exactly like giant links of sausage. I do not know if that was on purpose, but it is hard to unsee once you notice it. 🔗
The ending comes so fast you might think your video player glitched. It just stops on a dime with no real resolution.
It is not a masterpiece, but it is a fascinating, angry little artifact.