Alexander Nevsky: Analysis of Film Form, Auteur Characteristics and Context 

Alexander Nevsky is a movie that is similar to stained glass. It was meant to be looked AT, not looked through. As a propaganda peace it was powerful. Cherkasov, like many actors at the time, had not made the transition from stage to movies. His acting is circumscribed to 'classic hero' mode with little or no sponteneity. All the actors, in fact, fall just short of pantomime, broadly drawn and one-dimensional. Their target audience wouldn't have understood anything else. But that is part of this movie's power, and it's simple message.For the times, and for what we see in retrospect of the courage of the Soviet people, it deserves it's place. It is a great movie. No student of cinematography can claim a good education without this film on their list. I would place this movie, along with 'Rashomon,' '(Kurozawa) 'A face in the Crowd' ( Elia Kazan) El Topo ( Jodorowski) and about 10 others to rank as the world's greatest.

No one had any idea of any "Mongols" in Russia up until much later times, around 19th and 20th centuries. There were only TA(R)TARS known and mentioned throughout Russian sources and culture, whose vast lands in Eurasia surrounded Russia and were gradually incorporated into it since Ivan the Great. Which actually led, as a result of eastward expansion, to the direct contact with China and its province Mongolia for the first time ever, just a few centuries back from us. While Mongolia as a separate entity emerged very much due to the Russian effort in the first half of the 20th century and its revolutionary turmoil, while Mongolia's wild deserts and steppes, roamed by the primitive poor tribes, bore no signs of riches, great past or any civilization. There was a historical switcheroo made where Tatars got swapped with Mongols. Russia has no signs of Mongol mentions or any contacts with Mongols prior to new era.