STRIKE!

This was my second time watching Strike. The first time I watched it was followed by heavy analysis. That pretty much killed the film for me. I thought then that my first experience of the film might have been tainted, that maybe I might enjoy it if I just sat down and watched it. Unfortunately after about 10 minutes in I realised that this wasn’t the case and I just did not enjoy this film.

Putting enjoyment aside for a moment though you have to see how pioneering this film was. The whole concept that two images can be put together to create a third meaning is the basis of modern editing. Without this cinema as we know it would never have developed.

The use of montage at some points may seem a bit heavy handed, for example the slaughtering of the cow mirrored with the slaughter of the workers, but we cant really judge it harshly for that. We are looking back at it with almost 90 years more experience. But there are still some quite strong examples that could hold up in modern cinema, like the scene where horseman are attacking the workers. This is cut with shots of one of the stockholders squeezing juice out of a fruit. This conveys that the workers are being pressured and squeezed in the same way the fruit is.