Deserter: A slog through some very loud politics

If you have any patience for Soviet-era agitprop, you might find Deserter interesting as a museum piece. If you want to actually enjoy your Sunday afternoon, stay far, far away. It is mostly for people who like reading pamphlets about class struggle while staring at grainy, flickering black-and-white film.

Karl Renn is our guy. He’s the worker who realizes that standing in the rain shouting at scabs isn't exactly his idea of a good time. He deserts, which is the ultimate sin in this world. But wait—the party boss is actually, like, super chill about it? He sends Karl to the USSR to see the 'real deal' instead of kicking him to the curb.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Deserter (1933) through its definitive frames.

The middle part of the movie is basically a travelogue. Karl walks around factories. He looks at machines. He looks at people smiling while they work. You can tell the filmmakers really wanted you to be impressed by how many gears are turning in these scenes. I mostly just wanted a snack.

There is a moment where the sound design gets really jagged, like the film itself is having a panic attack. It reminded me a bit of the frantic pacing in Untamed, though with significantly less charm. The editing feels like it was done with a pair of rusty garden shears. Sometimes the shots cut off right before a person finishes a sentence, which is either a brilliant artistic choice or a total disaster. I'm leaning toward disaster.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Deserter (1933) through its definitive frames.

The lead performance by Semyon Svashenko is... intense? He spends about 60% of the movie looking like he just swallowed a lemon and is trying not to make a face about it. It’s hard to root for a guy who looks like he’s in physical pain every time someone mentions a collective.

Odd bits I noticed:

• The extras in the background of the factory scenes are clearly just waiting for their lunch break. You can see them looking at their watches.
• The shadow work on the walls during the meeting scenes is actually kind of cool. Very noir, despite the communist manifesto vibes.
• I swear the same shovel shows up in five different scenes. Maybe it’s a metaphor? Probably not.

It’s not as goofy as Quit Yer Kickin', but it shares that same desperate need to get a message across. Deserter isn't a movie you watch for the plot. It’s a movie you watch when you want to feel like you’re doing homework without actually having to turn anything in.

I left the screen feeling a bit dizzy. It’s a loud, clanking piece of work that wants to be important so bad it forgets to be human. Still, the way they film the heavy machinery? You can almost smell the grease. That’s something, I guess.