PORTRAIT OF A REVOLUTION: Russia 1896-1924

This ""portrait"" was originally a French film and, while superficially arresting-all those action photos--it adheres to no standards, of responsible scholarship. The text does not comprise a running caption but rather a rhetorical soundtrack--separate notables in group photos are not identified, the many stills from action sequences (troops massed and marching, crowds standing rigid or-scattering) are no more meaningful than any such, individual actions are frequently unexplained and inexplicable. The photos make. their impact by manipulation and repetition--eight pages of crowds listening to ""propagandists,"" another eight of breadlines, starving children, predatory children. Meanwhile the issues of the revolution are-reduced to shorthand and slogans; to say, for example, that Kerenski ""was a moderate and did not believe in 'violent overthrow of the government"" serves to pigeonhole him while begging the real 'issue(s) entirely. Even for persons--seldom 'children--who know their history and can spot the famous faces, this is a dubious offering: in the absence of specific picture sources, there is no way to check their authenticity, in the absence of captions, no way to know if they demonstrate what they purport to.