Product Description

Studio: Kino International Release Date: 11/08/2005 Run time: 142 minutes

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31227 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-11-08
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: Russian
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 104 minutes

Customer Reviews

a must see
Definitely the best film about this notorious man in Russian history. Contrary to cheesy Hollywood versions portraying the monster opposite some youths in love, this film takes you to the reality of Russian ruling class in the early years of XX century. It is not about one person, it shows the agony of the whole system at the dawn of the October 1917 revolution. The Tzar with his weaknesses, the nobles with their arrogance and uselessness, the bureaucrats with their greed; and amongst them all, this strange and horrific figure who appeared out of nowhere as some kind of evil genius or, maybe, a personification of all Russian folk.
The film creates incredibly authentic atmosphere of the time, focusing mostly on macabre side(considering the subject). The acting is absolutely superb.

One of the most unheralded Russian films ever....
This is one of the greatest Russian films ever made, but it's not particularly well known in this country, even in cinema circles. It's directed by Elem Kilmov, who directed the masterful Come and See. The film is excellent for many reasons. One, it gives a very well rounded portrait of the Russian monarchy at the time, and the complete chaos in the house of Nicholas II (and Russia during his reign). Second, the portrayal of Rasputin here is amazing (by Alexi Pentrenko), and extremely accurate. He was a very unkept man, but he had amazing charisma and he had carte blanche in the household of Nicholas II (which he abused regularly). There are some wicked surreal touches that really make this film extraordinary. As an added bonus, this is the widescreen, uncut version. When the film made it to the states, the film was cut by 35 minutes. Previous VHS versions were also pan and scan, which butchered Kilmov's widescreen compositions. The film had difficulty in the USSR as well, because the Soviet censors felt that Kilmov was too sympathetic towards Nicholas II. It was made in 1974, but wasn't officially released until 1985. This is a great Russian film, one of the best portrayals of Rasputin and the fall of Nicholas II.

Insanity
This movie is fantastic. If you're familiar with some of Klimov's other works you'll understand his knack for twisting the psyche of his audience with tormenting visions and macabre sound arrangements, and this film will certianly please you, if insanity is what you like. I find his movies must be watched several times to absorb their rich visual explosion fully, and I particularly love the use of stock footage of various stages of Russion history to better describe the plot and that which is going on surrounding the main characters. This movie is also hugely accurate and displays the true human existence behind the figures involved as it is rarely told. A must see, as the cliche goes.