'October: Ten Days That Shook The World'

The Russians were quick to embrace film for their various propaganda drives. They took it a bit further in making these actually good, early films.

The film was released in 1927, right when Stalin had grabbed control of the country after Vlad Lenin's death. Already, the screws were being loosened as Stalin starting exiling some, murdering others and starving the rest. That is 10 years after the revolution. To put that into prospect, we're one year away from the 10-year anniversary of Sept. 11, which still feels like yesterday.

Intresting note, the storming of the Winter Palace is actually based on an re-enactment of the same event held in 1920 by Lenin. The re-enactment played host to 100,000 spectators. Apparently, they took liberties with the initial storming of the palace. Not unlike what Disney has done to a dozen or so sports films over the last decade.

Could you imagine someone making a film today re-telling the story of a battle and basing that visual on the re-enactment of that battle? Then again, isn't a film just an expensive re-enactment? "October" is just a re-enactment of a re-enactment.