How fitting that in the same week I would see Fahrenheit 9/11, I would watch Aleksandr Nevsky (imdb | rotten tomatoes | buy it). True, Moore’s movie isn’t technically propaganda (as the state definitely had no input) and doesn’t pretend to be anything it’s not, but both films are out to get somebody.

While any film from 1938 will seem unimpressive and a bit trite by today’s standards, you have to marvel at the achievement when you put it in context. To have a battle sequence of such grandeur must have been groundbreaking. So many actors — no CGI soldiers here — and scene after scene of battle must have been hell to shoot. And, having watched it, I can see a few little nods that other movies have made to it — e.g., the opening sequence of The Hunt For Red October (imdb | rotten tomatoes | buy it) — which is rather cool.

If you can sit through a 65-year-old 2-hour black & white subtitled 13th century Russian epic, this is the movie for you.