The New Babylon (1929) - This movie feels like a fever dream you can't wake up from

If you have an hour and a half and want to feel like your brain is being put through a mechanical blender, this is for you. History buffs will love the Paris Commune stuff, but people who need a clear, slow plot will probably turn it off after ten minutes.

It isn't exactly a relaxing watch on a Tuesday night. This is more of a 'stare at the screen with your mouth open' kind of experience.

The opening in the department store called 'The New Babilon' is just... wow. Everything is moving way too fast.

There is this girl, Louise, who works there selling frilly things to women who probably don't know her name. She looks constantly terrified or exhausted, and honestly, I get it.

Then there is the soldier, Jean. He is kind of a pushover, or maybe just confused by the whole situation.

He doesn't really know who he is supposed to be shooting. One minute he's a guy in love, the next he's part of an army crushing the people he probably grew up with.

The rich people in this movie are drawn like literal cartoons. They have these huge, wet-looking faces and they eat and laugh while people are starving in the streets.

It's very much 'eat the rich' before that was ever a hashtag. I noticed a scene where a woman is just laughing at a shoe for a long time.

Why a shoe? I don't know, maybe it was a very funny shoe back in 1871. 👠

The editing is the real star here, but it's also the thing that might give you a headache. It's called Soviet Montage but it feels more like a nightmare where someone is flicking a light switch on and off.

It reminds me a bit of the energy in Slesar i kantsler, though that one feels a bit more grounded in a weird way. This movie just flies.

There is so much mud in the second half. So much rain.

By the end, everyone is just soaking wet and miserable in the trenches. It is not like Under the Red Robe where everything feels like a clean stage play.

This feels dangerous. Like the camera might actually get smashed by a soldier if it stays in one spot too long.

I really liked the part with the can-can dancers. They keep cutting between the dancers' legs and the soldiers marching to their deaths.

It's a bit heavy-handed, sure, but it works because of how frantic it is. The music—I watched the version with the original Shostakovich score—is incredibly loud and stressful.

Sometimes the music doesn't even match what's happening on screen. It makes you feel anxious, which I guess is the whole point of the movie.

Don't expect a happy Hollywood ending where the guy gets the girl and they live in a nice house. It's Soviet cinema from the 20s, so everyone usually ends up dead or at least very sad.

If you’ve seen Ruslan i Lyudmila, just know this is way darker and has zero fairy tale vibes. It's more about dirt under fingernails and blood on the pavement.

One guy in the crowd has a monocle that seems to take up half his face. It’s weirdly beautiful in a gross, distorted way.

I found myself rewinding a few parts because the cuts were so fast I missed who was hitting who. It's not a movie you can watch while scrolling on your phone.

The washerwomen scenes are actually pretty touching. They seem like the only real people in a world full of ghosts and greedy shop owners.

There is a lot of yelling in the title cards. LOTS OF CAPITAL LETTERS.

It's definitely worth seeing if you want to understand why people were so obsessed with the power of movies back then. It feels like the directors, Kozintsev and Trauberg, were trying to invent a new language while they were filming.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it’s just confusing. But I couldn't stop looking at the screen even when my eyes started to sting a little. 😵‍💫

Anyway, watch it if you want to see what happens when you give a bunch of young artists a budget and a lot of political anger. Just don't expect to feel 'good' when the credits roll.