Y10: 2-6. Revision Film III

For revision purposes we will watch the following film:

“Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny“.

In the previous “episode”:

Rumors circulated throughout Russia regarding Rasputin’s stay at the palace and closeness to the Imperial Family, particularly Alexandra. Stolypin is assassinated. World War I broke out, and as millions of Russian soldiers die in the war, citizens place the blame on Alexandra and Rasputin. The episode ended with members of the Duma talking about somehow “stopping” Rasputin, and Rasputin trying to “make contact with” the Virgin Mary as he has not “seen” her for a few weeks…

Now read this…

It appears that Rasputin has stopped “seeing” the Virgin Mary, causing his fellow monks and Alexandra to desert him…

A group of men led by Prince Felix Yusupov decide to murder Rasputin and invite him to the Yusupov palace. It is December 1916. Felix feeds Rasputin cakes and wine laced with lethal amounts of cyanide, but is horrified when he observes the effect it has on Rasputin…

Spoiler: Felix then shoots Rasputin, who still does not die. Rasputin stumbles through the courtyard to the palace gates before being shot four more times, finally collapsing and dying. His body is thrown from a bridge into the icy Malaya Nevka River.

Alexandra reads a note left behind by Rasputin, revealing his prior knowledge that he would be murdered, and that should the murderers be nobles, the Imperial Family would die within two years.

In 1917, with Russia on the verge of collapse due to the war, Nicholas is forced to abdicate as Tsar and is sent into exile with his family. The Imperial Family is executed in Yekaterinburg on 17 July 1918.

Now watch Part 3 (of 3) of “Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny”.

Rasputin. (31:38 minutes long)

— Trivia —

-1-

This movie was filmed in only eight weeks!

-2-

John Wood (Pyotr Stolypin) previously played Colonel Kobylinsky in Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), which depicted many of the same events.

-3-

Actor Tamás Tóth plays the part of Young Rasputin, clearly appearing to be a child of about 13 years of age. But the actor was born on December 2, 1958, so he was about 37 years old, at the time of filming (1995).

-4-

The ending suggests Alexei may have survived the massacre at Ipatev House, as his body (along with one of his sisters’) had never been recovered. However, approximately eleven years after this movie’s release, remains found near the Ipatev House site were unearthed and confirmed to be Alexei’s, thus rendering this movie’s ambiguous finale anachronistic.

— Goofs —

-1-

Winter Palace – St. Petersburg

Alexander Palace – Tsarskeo Selo

Winter Palace – Interior

When Rasputin first arrives at Tsarskeo Selo to see the Tsarina, the exterior of the palace shows the Alexander Palace at Tsarskeo Selo, yet in interior is the Winter Palace in St Petersburg.

-2-

After Rasputin first heals Alexis, when Nicholas and Alexandra are conversing privately, Nicholas is seen wearing a shirt with a capital letter “N” monogram, presumably for his first name. In the Russian Cyrillic alphabet, however, the capital letter corresponding to an English N is written as “H”.

-3-

At the end of the film, nearly before the execution of the Romanov Family, there’s an outdoor sequence that portrays Ipatov House. The title says: ‘July 16, 1918, Ipatiev House, Yekaterinburg, Siberia’. Despite it being summer time, there is much snow on the roof and near the house. The temperature in Siberia in July is often above 32°C.

— Factual Errors —

-1-

The Empress says at the 1913 Romanov Tercentenary celebration that she has been suffering for twelve years on account of the Tsarevich’s illness, whereas in fact the Tsarevich was born in 1904.

-2-

The movie depicts Stolypin as being assassinated after the outbreak of the First World War, whereas he was assassinated in 1911 and the First World War started in 1914.

— Anachronisms —

-1-

When Rasputin arrives in St. Petersburg he is shown standing before the Winter Palace in Palace Square. The palace appears as it does today, painted green with white and gold accents. At the time of Rasputin’s arrival in 1911 however, the palace was painted entirely in dull red. The palace’s current color scheme was not applied until the 1930’s.

Winter Palace (1900)

-2-

The Russian Orthodox Choir which sings the litany at the Tercentenary liturgy also seems to be a choir of the 1990s, since the Patriarch Alexei is mentioned by name. The Patriarchate in fact did not exist under the later Romanovs, having been abolished by Peter the Great.

-3-

The Romanov daughters all contracted the measles while under house arrest shortly before they were executed. As a result their heads were shaved. At the time of their death the girls did not have hair. In the film all the daughters have long hair when they are executed.

Now, complete the film review on “Rasputin: dark servant of destiny”.