Mother

film by Pudovkin [1926]

Also known as: “Mat”

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July 1, 2026

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Mother (1926) is a silent film directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin, based on a novel by Maxim Gorky. It is celebrated for its innovative use of montage, a technique Pudovkin explored to visually interpret characters' inner motivations and emotions. The film exemplifies Pudovkin's skill in intercutting images to represent complex ideas, such as interspersing scenes of a prison riot with shots of ice breaking up on a river. Mother is considered a masterwork of Soviet cinema and highlights Pudovkin's ability to blend human drama with epic and symbolic storytelling.123

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Vsevolod Pudovkin
He then directed Mat (1926; Mother). Based on Maxim Gorky’s novel, it exemplifies Pudovkin’s use of elaborate crosscutting of images (montage) to represent complex ideas; e.g., a sequence of scenes showing a prison riot is intercut with shots of ice breaking up on a river. Other important films were Konets…
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He then directed Mat (1926; Mother). Based on Maxim Gorky’s novel, it exemplifies Pudovkin’s use of elaborate crosscutting of images (montage) to represent complex ideas; e.g., a sequence of scenes showing a prison riot is intercut with shots of ice breaking up on a river. Other important films were Konets…
Read More

History of film
The Soviet Union
…major work is Mat (Mother, 1926), a tale of strikebreaking and terrorism in which a woman loses first her husband and then her son to the opposing sides of the 1905 Revolution. The film was internationally acclaimed for the innovative intensity of its montage, as well as for its…
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…major work is Mat (Mother, 1926), a tale of strikebreaking and terrorism in which a woman loses first her husband and then her son to the opposing sides of the 1905 Revolution. The film was internationally acclaimed for the innovative intensity of its montage, as well as for its…
Read More