Steps

This is another art film from Zbigniew Rybczynski. While at first it might appear very silly, I am pretty sure the filmmaker was trying to make a statement about the vacuous nature of mankind or something of the like. It’s well worth seeing but I also felt some of its impact was lost since the film seemed overlong.It all begins in a film studio’s control room. A Russian tour guide/director is getting ready for the production to begin and he’s bouncing about the room making comments about how the film would be made as well as how much he loved this Western equipment. Then, a group of folks enter the studio and they are all dressed in VERY stereotypical outfits–like archetypes of the garish 1980s. He explains the process through which he’ll be able to transport them INTO the classic Russian silent film, “The Battleship Potemkin” (also called “Potemkin”). Using a green-screen, he is able to make it appear (rather crudely) that these full-color people are walking among the victims on the Odessa steps as the Imperialist troops attack. Most of their comments are VERY banal and the people seem to be completely unmoved by the plight of the black & white folks in the original film.This is a film with countless possible interpretations–such as a commentary about Capitalism, the 1980s or mankind in general. All I know is that because it went on for so long, I really found my interest fleeting. An interesting idea for an art film that could have been trimmed a bit to greater effect. But, for fans of the very artsy, it’s worth a look.