Song of the Rivers aka Das Lied der Ströme (J. Ivens, 1954, Netherl., Germ. + Eng subt., 107 min.)

“Day by day with our hands — yellow, white, or black — we change the face of the earth and the future of mankind.“ At the time (1954), “Song of the Rivers“ is said to have been seen by 250 million people in Eastern European countries. Dutch filmmaker Joris Ivens was the leading director. The film is a documentary production by the East Germany’s Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft (DEFA). Song of the Rivers begins with a lyrical montage of landscapes and laborers and proceeds to glorify labor and modern industrial machinery. The sprawling film celebrates international workers movements along six major rivers: the Volga, Mississippi, Ganges, Nile, Amazon and the Yangtze. The musical score is by Dmitri Shostakovich, with lyrics written by Berthold Brecht, and songs performed by German communist star Ernst Busch and famous American actor and singer Paul Robeson.