--- title: "Earth" year: 1930 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/earth" fi1m_id: "earth" imdb_id: "tt0021571" tmdb_id: 46594 wikidata_id: "Q55188" fi1m_score: 85 critics_reviews: 2 published: "2026-09-25T00:34:53.108603+00:00" updated: "2026-09-25T00:35:07.308750+00:00" region: "HK" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Earth (1930) Directed by Alexander Dovzhenko · 1h 19m · Drama ## Identity Earth - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/earth - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** earth - **IMDb ID:** tt0021571 - **TMDB ID:** 46594 - **Wikidata ID:** Q55188 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021571/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/46594, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q55188 **Fi1m score: 85** · Critics: 2 of 6 reviews so far *In a sentence:* The tractor gets a hero’s welcome, but the apples deserve equal billing > Alexander Dovzhenko’s farming drama is stirring because it pays such close attention to faces, fruit and machinery. The political certainty can flatten its characters, but the images reward the concentration they demand. ## Synopsis In a Ukrainian farming village during Soviet collectivisation, Vasyl (Semyon Svashenko) wants his neighbours to work the land together and bring in a tractor. His father, Opanas (Stepan Shkurat), doubts the new arrangements, while the landowner Kulak Bilokin (Ivan Franko) opposes them. Natalia (Elena Maksimova) is Vasyl’s bride. The opening moves between fields, fruit and Grandfather Semyon (Mykola Nademskyi), resting in an orchard. As the village anticipates the machinery, arguments about ownership divide people who already know one another. Vasyl must persuade his neighbours that changing how they farm is worth disturbing the way they live. ## Review *Earth* is worth seeing for the force of its images, even if its politics allow too little room for doubt. Alexander Dovzhenko makes collective farming a subject for close attention: the soil, the people who work it, the machinery that promises to change their lives. The tractor receives the sort of welcome usually reserved for a returning hero. The enthusiasm can be infectious, though the film is rather less interested in understanding anyone who fails to share it. We were moved by the opening orchard, where Grandfather Semyon lies among the apples. Danylo Demutsky’s photography gives the old man’s face and the ripe fruit equal attention, without making either seem like an illustration of a lesson. There is enough time to look at both, and that patience matters. For a film committed to changing how people live, *Earth* is unusually attentive to what is already there and what people might reasonably wish to keep. Dovzhenko also edits, and the rhythmic montage is the chief reason the film holds us. Faces, fields and machinery acquire importance through their placement beside one another; we are encouraged to notice a likeness or a contrast before the next image arrives. Some passages move with an excitement that a straightforward account of farm modernisation could hardly generate. Others linger, allowing the film to be sensuous without making every shot hurry towards the next political point. Semyon Svashenko gives Vasyl the confidence that the scheme needs, while Stepan Shkurat’s Opanas provides the resistance of someone harder to persuade. Their difference is more engaging than the broader opposition supplied by Ivan Franko’s Kulak Bilokin. The wealthy farmer is too readily reduced to an obstacle, and that is the weakness in Dovzhenko’s writing. These people can have extraordinary faces and still be asked to represent positions that leave them little room to surprise us. Vasyl Krychevskyi’s production design keeps the village materially convincing: buildings, farm tools and the divisions of the land give the arguments something solid to concern themselves with. The tractor matters because it belongs among things people actually use. Lev Revutskyi is credited with the music, though the strongest sense of rhythm comes from Dovzhenko’s editing. The cutting establishes the pace so firmly that the images need little help to hold our attention. Against the more impatient habits of political drama, the pauses are welcome. Dovzhenko understands that the land must interest us before a quarrel over its ownership can matter, and the time spent with fruit and faces is time well spent. Some of the links between images are insistent enough to feel like instructions. Yet the film repeatedly lets a face hold our attention beyond the moment when we have understood what it represents. At 79 minutes, this is a manageable introduction to a kind of cinema that asks us to follow pictures as closely as events. Its demands are real: anyone hoping for rounded characters and a steadily advancing plot may find the pauses frustrating. Give the orchard and the tractor your full attention, and allow the film to set the pace. *Fi1m score 85, published 25 September 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is Earth worth watching?** *Earth* is worth watching for its powerful images and rhythmic editing, and we score it 85 out of 100. We recommend it to viewers willing to give faces, fruit and machinery as much attention as plot; its political certainty leaves some characters thin, and the lingering pace asks for concentration. **How long is Earth, and what is it rated?** *Earth* runs 1h 19m. It is a drama film. **Where can I watch Earth in Hong Kong?** *Earth* is not on any streaming or rental service in Hong Kong at the moment. It is available in 2 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily. **How does Earth compare to Pather Panchali?** *Earth* is more politically insistent than [*Pather Panchali*](https://film.one/film/pather-panchali), which gives rural family life more room for uncertainty and tenderness. We recommend *Pather Panchali* as the more rewarding choice for rounded characters and human warmth; *Earth* suits viewers drawn to rhythmic montage and the visual connections between people, land and machinery. **What should I watch after Earth?** After *Earth*, try [*Pather Panchali*](https://film.one/film/pather-panchali) (1955, Fi1m 93): Rural family life observed with more room for individual uncertainty and tenderness. Then [*Days of Heaven*](https://film.one/film/days-of-heaven) (1978, Fi1m 85): Fields and machinery become expressive through photography, with human conflict kept spare. ### Reviews we read (2) - **Slant Magazine**, Ed Gonzalez (4/4): Gonzalez gives the film an emphatically admiring verdict, calling it more impressive than Eisenstein’s work. He singles out Dovzhenko’s daring, rhythmic montage and the vitality of the imagery. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/earth/) - **Time Out**, GAd (90/100, inferred): The critic describes the film as very great despite its growing absence from Ten Best lists. The description points to Dovzhenko’s distinctive imagery, though the page text is unavailable. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/earth-2) ## Details - **Director:** Alexander Dovzhenko - **Director:** Alexander Dovzhenko - **Writer:** Alexander Dovzhenko - **Cinematography:** Danylo Demutsky - **Editor:** Alexander Dovzhenko - **Music:** Lev Revutskyi - **Production design:** Vasyl Krychevskyi - **Cast:** Stepan Shkurat as Opanas; Semyon Svashenko as Vasyl; Yuliya Solntseva as Opanas's Daughter; Elena Maksimova as Natalia, Vasyl's bride; Mykola Nademskyi as Grandfather Semyon; Ivan Franko as Kulak Bilokin; Petro Masokha as Khoma Bilokin; Vladimir Mikhaylov as Priest - **Runtime:** 1h 19m - **First release (SU):** 8 April 1930 - **Genres:** Drama ## Where to watch in Hong Kong Not streaming, renting or buying in Hong Kong at the last check. Also available in: CA, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *The General Line* (1929): Another tractor enters Soviet cinema, with collective farming turned into exuberant visual spectacle. - *The Naked Island* (1960): Patient images of agricultural labour make every bucket of water feel consequential. - *Pather Panchali* (1955), Fi1m 93: Rural family life observed with more room for individual uncertainty and tenderness. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/pather-panchali.md) - *The Tree of Wooden Clogs* (1978): Farming, faith and family receive the patient attention that political slogans cannot supply. - *Days of Heaven* (1978), Fi1m 85: Fields and machinery become expressive through photography, with human conflict kept spare. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/days-of-heaven.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/earth