Object #8 - The Pram - Battleship Potemkin (1925)

Dir. Sergei Eisenstein

The Odessa Steps sequence in Battleship Potemkin has been watched, discussed, and analysed countless times. It's been referenced in parodies like The Naked Gun, as well as almost lifted directly in Brian DePalma's The Untouchables (1987). The scene is iconic in and of itself, and the pram is a shorthand for the entire purpose of the scene.

The pram referenced in The Untouchables (1987)

Battleship Potemkin is a propaganda film for the Russian revolution. The first three 'parts' of the film detail the uprising of the crew of the battleship Potemkin against the officer-class, and the support they receive from the people on-land. One of their fallen crewman, Vakulinchuk, is celebrated, and seen as a representation of the 'One against all' message of both the film and the revolution at large. Part four of the film, titled The Odessa Steps, details the retributive act of the Cossack soldiers, who, appearing at the top of the Odessa steps, march single-file, firing into the crowd of supporters for the fallen Vakulinchuk. They step over the bodies of fallen children, firing into the helpless innocents, killing a woman cradling her fallen son point-blank. A woman's eyeglasses break as she is shot in the head, a famous image from the film:

A pram, containing a young baby, teeters over the steps ready to run down the steps, endangering the baby. The mother is shot by the soldiers, she falls back, pushing the pram, and it falls. A man on the side looks on, unable to help. 

You can see the entire classic sequence here, and the numerous homages and parodies here. Despite the propaganda nature of the film, we can't help but feel appalled at the events happening on screen. A child in danger will always elicit an emotional response no matter the context, because the are innocent, and helpless, none more so than in a pram tumbling down corpse-ridden steps. The plight of the people can be cast aside by a heartless person: "Oh they knew what they were doing. They were supporting revolutionaries". But a child, a child knows no better. That's what makes this scene so powerful on the surface. 

It's Eisenstein's frantic use of montage, the true purpose behind making the film, that makes the entire sequence so effective. This is 1925, film was new, techniques still being developed. Revolutionary were the cuts used, not just the content of the film. In action films today such as the Bourne series, directors such as Paul Greengrass use frantic cuts to instill a sense of movement, excitement, and danger. Greengrass himself has cited Potemkin as one of his favourite films, and the influence is clear to see. Eisenstein's cuts have a musical pace to them, no longer than approximately four beats, keeping you on your toes, contrasting images against one another, and at a basic, but vital, level, keeping you excited and engaged in the events on screen. The decent of the pram could have been done in a long shot. In fact, the cinematographic potential of the location could lend itself well to this approach, but Eisenstein chooses instead to give us shots of the baby from above, the pram tumbling from the side, and cutting to a helpless onlooker. The onlooker's emotions tell us what we should feel, like all good propaganda should. 

The message the scene is conveying isn't complex. The use of the pram isn't borderline manipulative, it's specifically designed to manipulate your emotions, to make you sympathise with the down-trodden masses against the machine-like murdering force of the Cossacks. A child in danger needs to be saved, no matter the cost, no matter the enemy, and that's why the pram in this scene is effective, and oh so iconic.