Plan velikikh rabot review - 1930s industrial chaos and hype

Is this movie worth watching today? Honestly, only if you are the kind of person who gets a kick out of old industrial footage or if you’re a total history nerd. You will probably hate this if you need a plot or characters to keep you awake. It is a 1930s propaganda piece, pure and simple. 🏗️

It’s meant to get people excited about the Five-Year Plan. There is no protagonist, unless you count The Concept of Progress as a person. Or maybe the tractors. There are a lot of tractors.

Abram Room directed this, which is weird because he usually does these intense, claustrophobic dramas. Here, he’s out in the open, filming giant dams and massive fields. The rhythm is totally different from something like The Wild Party or other films from that era. It’s much more aggressive.

The first thing you notice is the speed. The editing is fast. Like, really fast. It feels like the movie is trying to outrun itself. 🏃‍♂️

One scene shows these blueprints unfolding, and it cuts to a shovel hitting dirt almost before you can see the drawing. It’s a bit dizzying. I felt like I needed a coffee just to keep up with the jump cuts.

The music—well, the sound in general—is just a wall of noise. It’s that early sound era vibe where everything is a bit crunchy. You hear the clanking of metal and the roar of engines. It’s loud even when the volume is low.

There is this one shot of a map where lines start growing across the country like vines. It’s supposed to show progress, I guess. But it looks kind of like a sci-fi movie where a virus is spreading. 🗺️

I found myself staring at the background extras more than the machines. There is a guy about twenty minutes in who is holding a wrench and just looking at the lens with this expression that says, "I have no idea why I am here." It’s a small, human moment in a movie that’s mostly about steel.

It’s funny to compare this to something like Night Life. That movie feels so small and personal. This feels like it was made by a giant machine for other machines to watch. It’s not interested in your feelings.

The smoke is another thing. There is so much smoke in this movie. Every factory chimney is working overtime. Back then, I guess smoke meant success. Today, it just looks like a massive environmental disaster. 🏭

Does it get boring? Yeah, kind of. After the tenth montage of sparks flying, you start to check the time. It’s repetitive because it’s trying to hammer a point home. It wants you to feel the weight of the work.

I liked the part with the water the most. The way they filmed the dams being built is actually pretty cool. The water looks powerful and scary. It’s much more visceral than the shots of people standing in lines holding flags.

It’s way less glamorous than The French Doll. There are no fancy dresses here. Just dirt, sweat, and very heavy-looking coats. Everyone looks exhausted but also strangely intense.

The movie stops as abruptly as it starts. It doesn’t really have an ending, it just sort of... finishes its list of things it wanted to show you. It’s like a PowerPoint presentation that someone turned into a fever dream. 💤

Wait, did you see that?

• The way the shadows hit the tractor wheels is actually beautiful for about five seconds.
• There’s a weirdly long shot of a guy eating bread that feels like it belongs in a different movie.
• The charts! So many animated charts. They love a good graph in 1930.
• Somebody definitely almost fell off that scaffolding in the background of the bridge scene.

If you’re looking for a relaxing evening, this isn't it. But if you want to see what "excitement" looked like in a very specific time and place, it’s worth a look. Just don’t expect to remember any of the people’s faces. They aren't the point. The Plan is the point. 🛠️

It’s a weird relic. I’m glad I saw it, but I don’t think I’ll ever need to see it again. It’s like looking at an old blueprint for a house that was built a long time ago. Interesting to see how they thought it would turn out.