Rent Reds (1981)

A complex love story played out against the background of the Russian Revolution - Reds review by Philip in Paradiso

The movie has been described as an epic historical drama. I expected it to be centred on the Russian Revolution of October 1917, which resulted in the Bolsheviks, led by V Lenin and L Trotsky, seizing power in Russia. (Soon, they re-named themselves 'Communists'.) In actual fact, the film really is about 2 people and their complex love affair: Jack Reed (Warren Beatty) and Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton). A 3rd character plays an important part, and that is the playwright, Eugene O'Neill (Jack Nicholson), who is a friend of J Reed's.

All the characters in the film existed and the movie seems fairly accurate historically to me. J Reed was a left-wing activist and trade-union militant, as well as a journalist, who went to Russia at the time of the October 1917 Revolution and got swept away on a wave of enthusiasm for the Communist movement (he tried to organize a Communist Party in the USA too). L Bryant was a strong-willed, very independent woman and a left-wing feminist as well as an artist and journalist. She supported J Reed's political views.

The 1st part of the film is about their initial encounter and how they subsequently fall in love, and the stormy relationship that develops between them. (They were in favour of 'free love' and open relationships, apparently.) Incidentally, W Beatty was dating D Keaton during the shooting of the film, from what I have read. The 2nd part of the film centres on J Reed's trips to Russia and his stays there. L Bryant follows him to Russia.

The film is good but I would not call it a masterpiece. It is probably overlong (2 DVDs and a total of >3 hours), as it covers a lot of ground, but it does so well, putting forward an interesting narrative. What is odd is that testimonies by individuals who knew J Reed and L Bryant are inserted in the middle of the narrative, in the form of very short interviews, at various points in the movie, interrupting the film: I do not think I have ever seen that done before, and thought it was totally unnecessary - like some kind of running commentary. The interviewees are not named, not even in the bonus material, which is also strange.

Among them is Henry Miller, with his long, angular face: his remarks are sharp and insightful. If all the interviews had been collected and put together, with proper editing, it could, in fact, have constituted a very interesting documentary on the topic of the October 1917 Revolution in Russia. It is a shame it was not done. (To see the film in full, you need to watch both DVDs; the 'bonus material' is on the 2nd DVD.)

As much as a historical film about the rise of the Communist movement and the Russian Revolution of October 1917, it is a romantic love story about a couple struggling to make their relationship work - namely J Reed and L Bryant. In a way, the sub-text of the movie could be: 'How to make things work?' And this would apply to individual endeavours (here, a sentimental relationship) as well as collective enterprises (the nature of a Communist revolution and regime is assessed and discussed in the film). It is an interesting, insightful film and I would recommend it.

A key time in history well portrayed. - Reds review by TE

This is a story of intrinsic interest, and Beatty's direction does a worthy job of covering some of the main aspects.

The period evocation is good, and Diane Keaton is on fine form. Even Jack Nicholson manages to give an appropriately restrained performance.

If anything the film tries to cover too much ground, timewise and location-wise. This tends to happen at the expense of depth of characterisation, but it's not hard to see why Beatty won an Oscar for his directorial role.