English Title: Strike
Goskino
Starring: Maksim Shtraukh, Grigoriy Aleksandrov
Directed by: Sergei M. Eisenstein

Cat Out of the Bag Alert!  This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: Factory workers on strike in pre-Revolutionary Russia are persecuted by their former bosses, the police and even the military.

Kitty Cameos: Several cats are seen throughout this film, the debut work of director Eisenstein. The first day of the workers’ strike shows the men at home. A couple of kittens are seen outside during this scene.

The factory offices are empty and a black cat is seen walking down the hallway scattered with litter and effects.

Kitty Carnage Warning!  Things get darker as the strike drags on and the workers and their families suffer. A woman is seen screaming at her husband who is lying in bed. A tabby kitten is nearby pawing at a fish on the ground. The woman picks up a shoe and throws it, hitting the kitten and sending it sprawling. This was done for real.

The woman then storms out of the apartment and slightly kicks the kitten on her way out. The kitten then carries part of the fish in its mouth away from the doorway.

Severe Kitty Carnage Warning! Still later several dead cats are seen hanging outside a junk yard, apparently to scare away anyone who might dare to intrude. These are also real cats.

Near the end of the film the military is brought in to break up the crowd of workers. The soldiers pursue the workers to their apartments and start attacking them. Two little girls are seen sitting above the melee playing with three kittens.

One of the kittens later jumps over the edge of the ledge where they are sitting but it is unclear if the kitten falls a long or short way down. We should warn you that there is other violence against animals in this movie, including the very graphic and real killing of a cow (used in a montage interspersed with the killing of the workers), not to mention the vile death of one of the little girls that was playing with the kittens, so sensitive viewers beware.

Final Mewsings: Animals, like workers, deserve to be treated fairly and humanely.

Relevant Links:

To discuss this film and other cats in movies and on television, join us on
Facebook and Twitter.