The Internationale - Popular Culture

Popular Culture

The Internationale has also featured in numerous examples of popular culture:

• The novel Animal Farm, written by George Orwell, alludes to the anthem with the song, Beasts of England, Beasts of Ireland, and its replacement (alluding to the National Anthem of the Soviet Union) being symbolic of betrayal of the ideas of the revolution.

• In David Lean's 1965 film Doctor Zhivago (based on Boris Pasternak's novel of the same name) a large number of protesters sing the Russian version of the song during a street protest.

• The 1974 film Sweet Movie, features two different versions of the melody, one being played in 6/8 time signature with an accordion, the other one, played in 4/4 at fast tempo with an organ.

• Features in 1981 epic film, Reds; a biopic focusing on the life of American journalist, John Reed - starring Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson.

• The music video to the Manic Street Preachers' 1998 hit single, "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next" features excerpts from De Geyter's melody at the beginning and end. The song itself makes numerous references to the Spanish Civil War; The Internationale having served as a popular Republican anthem during the conflict.

• In Billy Wilder's One, Two, Three, the German version is sung by a group of marching demonstrators in East Berlin at the beginning of the film.

• In the film Red Dawn, the song's second stanza can be heard playing during a parade procession led by Colonel Strelnikov. Some consider this an anachronism since the song was used exclusively by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

• Michael Moore's 2009 documentary Capitalism: A Love Story has New Jersey lounge singer Tony Babino performing an English language version of L'Internationale over the end credits.

• In the film Cradle Will Rock by Tim Robbins, Bill Murray's character Tommy Crickshaw sings one verse of the song (mostly from the "American Version" above) at the end. He's a ventriloquist at the end of his career, a man who once was a fiery radical, but who has now been reduced to a near nonentity. He can't even bring himself to sing it, so he sings it through his puppet. The song is a very poignant moment at the end, an indication of how far people can go from their roots.

• In the film Air Force One, the main antagonists' leader, General Alexander "Ivan" Radek, President of a neo-Soviet regime in Kazakhstan, is released from prison at the demand of the main antagonists. As Radek exits his cell, the other prisoners collectively sing the Russian version in honour of Radek and the Soviet Union.