Following the Mongol withdrawal from Russia, German knights of the Teutonic Order invade the Republic of Novgorod. Prince Alexander Nevsky (Nikolai Cherkasov, who looks like a man on Xannax) must rally his people to resist the formidable force after the Teutonic soldiers threatened the Russian city. Alexander stages his last stand at Peipus, where a major battle is fought on the ice of frozen Lake Chudskoe. While Alexander leads his outnumbered troops, two of their number, Vasili (Nikolai Okhlopkov) and Gavrilo (Andrei Abrikosov), begin a contest of bravery to win the hand of a local maiden.
The film is hugely influential and it's battle scenes have been the catalyst for movie-makers such as Stanley Kubrick (Paths of Glory, Spartacus), Mel Gibson (Braveheart) and Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings).
It was banned shortly after it's completion as the Molotov/Ribbentrop non-agression pact between the USSR and Third Reich came into effect, but was resurected as a wartime propaganda piece in 1941.
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Alexander Nevsky still hits hard. Sad to think that most of those extras would go on to die in a real war a couple years later.
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