For whatever reason, every year there are a few of my students that are utterly intrigued with the Romanovs, Russian history, and especially this unlikely little story, the last days of the Russian monarchy. Fact is truly stranger than fiction. How can you honestly make up a guy like Rasputin? In any case, if you like long methodical costume dramas, you probably found that you liked Franklin J. Schaffner's 1971 film Nicholas and Alexandra. Quite frankly, the costumes are beautiful, the set design is wonderfully authentic, and the story is of course very intriguing. That being said the film is not perfect. There are some inaccuracies, but there are some money scenes too. I especially enjoyed Janet Suzman as Alexandra, and the subtlety that she brought to the character. I found Tom Baker to be a bit over the top as Rasputin, but I mean, we're talking about Rasputin here (is it just me or does Rasputin strangely resemble the 90s heavy metal star Rob Zombie?). I have always wanted to see him portrayed on film, and I probably would have handled him differently, but then again I'm not a director. Plus, yankee doodle playing as an attempt on his life is being made, that's just priceless. The thing that I enjoy most about the film is seeing the iconic figures of the period meander in and out of the film, figures such as Lenin, Trotsky, etc. And just when you feel that the film doesn't have enough bite, well, there is the final scene. The film does offer a bit of perspective as well. Because the United States played opposite the Soviet Union during the Cold War, communism has been and, in many cases, remains a dirty word in this country. Seeing things from the Russian point of view, under the burdensome regime of the czar, why did many see communism as a valid alternative to the existing system of absolutism? What was the appeal of communism to those following? Did Lenin misrepresent the realities of what he wanted to bring to Russia? Did Trotsky have a more moderate solution to Russia's problems? Did a completely different solution exist altogether? If so, would it have been practical in dealing with the realities of the time period? Why did Kerensky's provisional government completely fail before Lenin took over? If you are interested in this period of Russian history, a film that offers a very unique point of view is Warren Beatty's 1980 classic Reds. He plays a real life American journalist that was actually in Russia reporting Lenin's takeover of the system there. All things considered, this is a very interesting chapter of world history to say the least.
9 comments:
The movie was very interesting although a little hard to follow at times. It was realistic and stuck to actual history well; There were only a few differences from the movie and the Romanovs' story.
Alexandra and Nicholas was a very interesting movie although it was hard to follow sometimes. I liked the fact that it stuck to the actual Romanovs' actual story instead of being closer to fiction. Their story is facinating and has a surprising ending.
Kirsten Carella
I thought the story of the Romanovs was very interesting. But, I though that the movie did a poor job of holding my interest with lengthy monologues, hard to understand language, and bad quality. In some places the lighting was so bad that it was hard to see what was happening on screen, though maybe that was my tv's fault. Also, if I hadn’t already known a little about the story of the tzar and his family, I doubt that I would have been able to follow the movie. Several of my friends that also watched the movie had no idea about the Romanovs and didn't understand the movie. I think that the film should be shortened. I don't think that anyone would just watch this movie for fun, mainly because of the length. I also thought that they should have explored the daughters’ characters more thoroughly. At one point I wasn’t even sure how many sisters there were and I had to count them. Overall, I thought that the film was okay considering the resources that were available in the early seventies to make movies. I'll give the movie three stars.
yeah, miss carella, i agree with you that it is a bit hard to follow if you don't have some background knowledge. but hey, don't knock the early 70s when it comes to resources...the early 70s gave us the godfather (i and ii), the french connection, patton, and the list goes on and on. but yes, i see your points.
I thought the movie was good, it was very educational which made it dull at times, but also had some humor in it. It was almost entirely historically correct which was good, but the story seemed to drag out a bit at times and wasn't that interesting. All around though I thought it was a good movie, with good actors, an interesting storyline, and an ending that was very different.
I think This movie was actually boring and freakishly long! Although the history was right on i couldn't look at the screen for more than ten minutes without nodding off! the acting was bad, but maybe thats just a thing of the 70's? I don't know, but i wouldn't recommend future students to watch this
Alina Venick
While the movie was interesting, I had difficulty paying attention. The dialogue got to be a bit much for most of the movie and it would have been better if they would have just cut to the point. THe movie was interesting though because of it's historical significance, showing how Russia had gotten to be that way. It was also interesting comparing to Fox's Anastasia. I may have found the movie a bit more interesting if the characters would break out in song and dance, but many historical figures probably didn't do that. However, the dialogue also got confusing when you didn't know about the history beforehand. I had to do a lot of research to fully understand that movie.
Personally, I thought Rasputin looked like an ugly John Cusack, though that may have just been the trend both share in wearing guyliner at an old age. Rasputin may have been over the top, but he was of the few characters in the movie that had any personality. Alexei was to stereotyped. He was all cheerful and reckless as a child, when if I was a kid that bled to death froma single tap I may be a bit depressed and more responsible. He also got moody as a preteen, oh like every teenager is moody and disobeys their parents. It's only most of them.
One thing with seeing how communism came about, the movie caused the audience to pity the Romanov family more than the peasants. It almost seemed like the rebels were the villains in the movie, rather than just desperate, poor people.
a few thoughts... i agree with you miss white that acting could have better. i still think janet suzman was great as alexandra, but some of the other performances were a bit flat. i'm humored that you blame it on the 70s though. some of the best performances of all time came from that decade (i.e. robert deniro as young vito corleone in the godfather part II).
miss venick, you make a good point that the peasantry is somewhat villainized in the film, making the royal family out to look like victims. take a look at who the director is, look at some of his other work, and therein may lie the answer.
Personally, I thought this film was wonderfully portrayed. I have to agree and say that the costumes were fantastic! I have done a fair bit of research on the living conditions of the Romanovs though and have found that their palace in St. Petersburg was a bit to lavishly furnished and that theHouse of Special Purpose in Ekaterinburg was a bit underfurnished, as well as with the Tobolsk prison. It turns out that the "prison" was actually the Governor's mansion, not a little log cabin out in the middle of the woods. I loved the cast and thought that they all did a magnificant job of portraying the emotions that were running through the family while wars were erupting right outside their front door. The movie was compiled well, but had more dull sections than one would have thought for a family faced with so many problems. The last scene was phenominal in any case. I have always found the story of the Romanov's highly fascinating, but never realized how much, for lack of a better word, drama went on behind the scenes. Other than those few flaws in decoration, I thought this movie was overall superb and personally loved it!
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