Oleksandr Dovzhenko’s 1928 classic film 'Arsenal' has recently been restored by the Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Centre (ODNC) in Kyiv. The British Council and ODNC commissioned Bristol-based producer and multi-instrumentalist Guy Bartell (Bronnt Industries Kapital), to compose a new soundtrack for the film. The restored version was screened (and the new soundtrack performed live by Bartell) on 22 April 2015 at Kyiv’s Fifth International Book Fair, at Mystetksyi Arsenal.
The second film in Dovzhenko’s ‘Ukraine Triology’ (together with Zvenigora and Earth), Arsenal was released in 1929. The film focuses on an episode of the Russian Civil War (1918) in which the Kiev Arsenal January Uprising of workers supported the Red/Bolshevik Army against the Ukrainian nationalists (who ran the country at the time). The American National Board of Review chose Arsenal in its list of top 5 films of 1929 (Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Joan of Arc was also on the list). Exploring a narrative that stresses the tragic nature of civil war, Arsenal is regarded by film scholar Vance Kepley, Jr. as "one of the few Soviet political films which seems even to cast doubt on the morality of violent retribution".
TRACK LISTING
A01 There Was A War
A02 Oh, A Mother Had Three Sons
A03 I Will Become An Engine Operator
A04 Who
A05 Dreadnought Maria
A06 Tymish Marshes
B07 Arsenal
B08 Let Us Start Working!
B08 Kiev Qui Dort
B09 Petliura Wounded Me With A Bullet
B10 Vilna Ukrainia
B11 Where Is The Husband, Where Is The Son