Tsarevich Alexei: Why did you abdicate for me? You never asked!
Tsar Nicholas II: I didn't want you to pay for my mistakes.
Tsarevich Alexei: Am I not paying for them now? Aren't we all?
There was a lot to like about this movie. Ten minutes in I stopped it because I could tell it was one Tyler would enjoy as well, and we watched it together. It's about three hours long and covers the period beginning 1904 and ending 1918.
It begins with the birth of Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra's fifth child, and first son, Alexei. They are overjoyed at the birth of an heir to the Russian throne, but the country is in a state of unrest and upheaval, with different political factions vying for power and protesting against the Romanov rule. The movie covers a lot of history, with characters such as Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky all making appearances.
Alexei is revealed to have a bleeding disorder, Haemophilia, which is life threatening. In fear for her son's life, Alexandra embraces the teachings of Rasputin, a supposed holy man. Through this relationship, Rasputin gains power, to the chagrin of the people, who falsely make aspersions about a romantic relationship between Rasputin and Alexandra. Should Rasputin have been around? No, considering the issues it caused, but I found myself hoping Nicholas would let him stay around because of the peace of mind his presence gave Alexandra -until Rasputin met his grisly and mythic end, that is. The actor was very good, and looked a lot like pictures of the real Rasputin. Tyler was pleased that the actor had the crazy eyes Rasputin was said to have had.
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| The real Grigori Rasputin. |
The movie continues through World War I, during which the loss of life and rampant poverty in Russia become unbearable, and the Romanovs are removed from power and imprisoned.
They seemed like a nice family, politics set aside, and their tragic end is upsetting. Nicholas quite possibly was guilty of what he was accused of (I won't detail that here, because I don't have the expertise to do so), but he was never allowed to stand trial. Even his wife could have had some culpability, as she took the reigns when he was traveling with the army. If the Red Army had decided to execute both of them, it would have been sad, but I could have understood. How they could have ordered the deaths of the five innocent children is mind boggling. The scene in which they are in the room where they are unknowingly waiting to be executed was so tense it made me terribly uncomfortable to keep watching. The camera pans continuously to the family to the door and to the clock, with no one talking and no music, and it drags on, which made me squirm anxiously knowing what was to come through the door. I kept hoping that maybe they'd just end the movie, but nope -eventually the executioners arrived.
The relationship between Alexandra and Nicholas was complicated and interesting. He loved her in spite of the fact that she was universally loathed by his countrymen for being a German. Sometimes things were cold between them, and they exchanged some cruel words -such as when he blames her for Alexei's illness, and when she says she was ashamed of him for weeping when his father died. Other times they are warm and loving: in their last days of imprisonment they spend some private time together and he tells her how much he still loves her after all these years and after all they've been through: "I still want you so much. Nothing can ever change that, Sunny."
A good historical drama, and definitely worth watching -excellent script and acting. My main complaint is that it started so late. I would have loved to see the early years of their marriage. Nicholas had to fight to marry her against the disapproval of his parents, and that would have been fun to watch. I was disappointed that those years were left out.
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| The Real Romanov family. |
Note: I was one click away from submitting this post as "Napoleon and Alexandra," instead "Nicholas and Alexandra." Now THAT would have been one interesting movie...
I really liked this movie. I did not know much about this period of history or its events outside of the war. The details that this movie included were great, down to the traditional foreign guards for the Tsar and his family. Rasputin was cast perfectly and was a delight to watch, his hypnotic voice and the crazy eyes were very convincing. Great movie all around.
ReplyDeleteI saw the movie soon after it came out and, like T, was struck by the level of detail for the period. My strongest memory of the film, however, was how much I was affected by the tension you write about in the scene where the family unknowingly awaited execution. It seemed so real and so tragic to me that I realized I had been holding my breath for much of the scene. It was a relief for me when the movie ended and I could tell myself that I had just been watching actors. I was just a year away from all the tragedy and death I had seen as a young combat soldier in Vietnam.
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