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The Battleship Potemkin recounts the story of the Kronstadt navy mutiny that inspired the 1905 revolution. The sailors aboard the ship mutinied the ship’s officers and threw their support to the revolution. In actual events, nothing much really happened after the mutiny on the ship. The sailors docked in Constanza, Romania and surrendered in exchange for refuge. But in Sergei Eisenstein’s The Battleship Potemkin, the incident led to major events such as the Oddessa Step massacre and final showdown with the Black Sea fleet. The film was a propaganda targeted toward the oppressed working class, the Russian people, to overthrow the oppressors, the czar regime. The film, The Battleship Potemkin, opens to the sailors on board the battleship Potemkin. The shots of the sailors show the tension of the oppressed people. The stirring of the boiling water symbolizes the turbulent and brewing emotions in the sailors. A sailor shatters a plate expressing his violent rage. A piece of meat, infested with maggots, is ignored by the ship’s officers. The scene emphasizes the uncaring attitude of the officers. Those who protest against the captain’s order are to be shot, but Vakulinchuk inspired the crew to oppose the captain’s order.
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