Films on Russian History and Culture

Minin and Pozharsky (Russian: Минин и Пожарский, romanized: Minin i Pozharskiy) is a 1939 Soviet historical drama directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin and Mikhail Doller, based on Viktor Shklovsky's novel "Russians at the Beginning of the XVII Century". The film is about the Time of Troubles, Russia's struggle for independence led by Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin against the Polish invasion in 1611–1612. It was the first of several Soviet films to show Poland as an aggressor. Note the year of its release when the Red Army, together with German troops invaded Poland; so the main purpose of Pudovkin's movie was obvious. It resembles Eisenstein's 'Alexander Nevsky' made a year before it, it is a propaganda film and an exiting movie

SUSTROKE (Russian: Солнечный удар, translit: Solnechnyy udar) is a 2014 Russian drama film directed, produced and written by Nikita Mikhalkov, starring Martinsh Kalita and Viktoriya Solovyova. It is set after the collapse of the Russian Empire during the Red Terror in 1920, with flashbacks to 1907, and is loosely based on the story "Sunstroke" and the book Cursed Days by Nobel Prize-winning Russian writer Ivan Bunin. The film was selected as the Russian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. PLOT: The story is set in a prisoner-of-war camp in November 1920, in the Crimea, after the evacuation of the White Army, with several thousand White officers left behind on the peninsula. The officers are unaware of their impending doom, waiting for their fate to be decided by the Red Army officials.[3] One of them – an unnamed poruchik (lieutenant) – is haunted by the memories of a dramatic and brief love affair which occurred in 1907. He tries to understand how the Russian Empire fell apart and who is to blame. His musing comes to an end when all the White officers board an old barge, ostensibly into exile. CAST: Martinsh Kalita as a poruchik (lieutenant) Viktoriya Solovyova as a beautiful stranger Sergei Karpov as Egoriy (Georgiy Sergeevich as a child) Anastasiya Imamova as Tatyana Sergey Serov as a priest Kseniya Popovich as Olya Andrey Popovich as Petya Aleksandr Ustyugov as Vladimir Yumatov, an Imperial Navy officer Aleksandr Oblasov as a steward Aleksandr Borisov as a sailor Maksim Bityukov as Trigorin Vitali Kishchenko as a cavalry captain Denis Vasilev as a student Aleksandr Adabashyan as a photographer Eduard Artemyev as a photographer assistant Kristina Kirillova as Lizonka Miloš Biković as baron Nikolay Alexandrovich Gulbe-Levitsky (Koka), a podporuchik (i.e. Second Lieutenant) of the Life Guard Uhlan Regiment of Her Majesty Avangard Leontiev as fakir (prestidigitator) Kirill Boltaev as Yesaul (i.e. Cossack Captain) Aleksandr Michkov as Junker (i.e. Cadet) Aleksey Dyakin as Georgiy Sergeevich (Egoriy as an adult) Miriam Sekhon as Rosalia Zemlyachka Sergey Bachurskiy as Béla Kun Vladimir Yumatov as colone

This is one of the earliest Russian films, commemorating the centenary of the first Fatherland War , This film by Vasily Goncharov is a short account of the invasion of Russia by the French under Napoleon.

Another early Russian film by Vasily Goncharov on Mazeppa, hetman of Ukraine, The film tells about the Hetman named Mazepa, who is in love with Kochubey's daughter, Maria, and asks her father for consent to marry her, but his father refuses him. This does not stop them and they run away. This is probably based on a poem by Lord Byron.

This is the first Russian theatrical film. It narrates the Cossack revolt and piratical activities of Stenka Razin, who raided along the Volga and the Caspian Sea in the 17th century. It includes the folk song, "Stenka Razin".

This is the classic Eisenstein film on the mutiny aboard the Potemkin and the 1905 revolution in Odessa. Famed for its Odessa steps sof the earliest Russian films, commemorating the centenary of the first Fatherland War , This film by Vasily Goncharov is a short account of the invasion of Russia by the French under Napoleon.

This is the third installment (parts 5&6) of an 8-part adventure television series about the Novgorod warriors of the XIII century. These were the DRUZHINA (companions) of the ailing Prince and the influential, but dying archbishop of the principality/republic. The men defended it against threats such as brigands, pagans, crusaders and Mongols. The main goal of the DRUZHINA was to find the young successor prince, Alexander who would gain the name of Nevsky. The series' alternative English title is VIKINGS.

Alexey is a soldier in the Czar's army whose fiancée is raped by a general. In retaliation, Alexey attacks the general and is sentenced to prison in the East. Thanks to the heroics of his bride-to-be he escapes, but she is killed in helping him. Alexey ends up with some boatman plying their trade on the Volga, and he bides his time as he plots to bring justice to the general. Meanwhile, an attractive gypsy woman enters his life.

This is a colorized version of part one of the classic Soviet biography. Part I begins with Ivan's coronation as Tsar of all the Russians, amid grumbling from the boyars and silent jealousy from his cousin, Vladimir of Staritsa and especially from Vladimir's mother and Ivan's aunt, the evil-looking Evfrosinia Staritskaia. Ivan makes a speech proclaiming his intent to unite and protect Russia against the foreign armies outside her borders and the enemies within – a reference to the boyars, who are already seen as discontented with his coronation. Shortly after, Ivan marries Anastasia Romanovna and there is a wedding celebration. This causes him to lose the friendship of his two best friends, Prince Andrei Kurbsky and Fyodor Kolychev. The latter receives Ivan's permission to retire to a monastery, while Kurbsky attempts to resume his romance with the Tsarina, who repels his advances. The marriage feast is interrupted by news of the burning of several boyar palaces, carried into the Tsar's palace by a mob of the common people who also complain that the Tsar is being led astray by the Tsarina's family (the Romanovs), the Glinskys and the Zakharins. Ivan calms the crowd, but is interrupted by envoys from the khanate of Kazan, who send him a ceremonial knife with the suggestion that he do himself a favor by using it to commit suicide. Ivan immediately proclaims that his kingdom is at war with Kazan. The next scene shows the 1552 siege of Kazan, in which Ivan's army digs saps underneath the city and fills them with gunpowder. Kurbsky, nominally in command, is reprimanded by Ivan for senseless brutality (he ties Tatar prisoners to palisades within earshot of the walls of Kazan and tells them to shout to the city to surrender; the defending archers immediately shoot the prisoners). The city of Kazan falls to the Russian army. During his return from Kazan, Ivan falls seriously ill and is thought to be on his deathbed; Orthodox priests come to give him the last rites before he dies. Ivan sends for his relatives and orders them to swear allegiance to his son, the infant Dmitri, reminding them of the need for a single ruler to keep Russia united. They demur, with Ivan's aunt, Evfrosinia Staritskaya, openly urging the others to swear allegiance to her son, Vladimir, instead. Emotionally overwrought, Ivan collapses and is thought dead. The relatives, celebrating, all begin to swear allegiance to Vladimir, the "boyar tsar" they have hoped for; meanwhile, Kurbsky is uncertain of his own loyalty, trying to decide between the two sides. However, when the Tsarina says, "Do not bury a man before he is dead", Kurbsky realizes that Ivan is still alive, and hurriedly swears his allegiance to Ivan's infant son, Dmitri. He is sent, as a reward, to the western border of the kingdom to defend against the Livonians and Poles. At the same time, Ivan dispatches Alexei Basmanov, a commoner he likes, to the south to take care of the Crimean border. The fact that Ivan promotes a commoner over them creates more discontent amongst the boyars. The Tsarina now falls ill, and while Ivan is receiving bad news from all fronts, the boyars plot to kill her. Evfrosinia comes into the palace with a cup of wine hidden in her robes, in which she has put poison. Just as the royal couple receive word that Kurbsky has defected to the Livonians, Evfrosinia slips the cup of wine into the room and listens from behind a wall. The news that Kurbsky is a traitor gives the Tsarina a convulsion and Ivan, looking around for a drink to calm her, takes the poisoned wine and gives it to her. The scene changes to show the dead Tsarina lying in state in the cathedral, with Ivan mourning beside her bier. While a monk reads biblical verses over the body, Ivan questions his own justifications and ability to rule, wondering if his wife's death is God's punishment on him. However, he pulls himself out of it, and sends for his old friend, Kolychev, the monk. At this point, Alexei Basmanov arrives, suggesting that Ivan instead surround himself with men he can really trust – common people, "iron men", the Oprichniki – and offers his own rather startled son, Fyodor, for service. Ivan accepts, and sets about recouping his losses. He abdicates and leaves Moscow, waiting until the people beg him to return, saying that he now rules with absolute power by the will of the people.

This is a colorized version of part two of the classic Soviet biography. Part II opens in the court of King Sigismund of Poland, to whom Kurbsky swears allegiance. Sigismund promises to make Kurbsky ruler of Ivan's territories, once he exploits the tsar's absence by conquering them. The plan is foiled when an emissary announces that Ivan has returned to Moscow. A flashback shows Ivan as a child, witnessing his mother being poisoned and removed, then as a young teenager standing up to the condescension of the boyars who want to rule over young Ivan's head. He begins by reforming the land distribution - he takes the boyars' lands, then reinstalls them as managers, increasing his own power at their expense. His friend, Kolychev, arrives, now the monk Philip; after a heated debate, Philip agrees to become metropolitan of Moscow, as long as Ivan gives him the right to intercede for condemned men. This is mutually agreed upon, but as soon as it is settled, Ivan, propelled by his lieutenant Malyuta Skuratov, finds a way around this: he executes condemned men quickly, before Philip can use his right. In this way he has three of Philip's kinsmen executed. Fyodor Basmanov, the first of the Oprichniki, helps Ivan figure out that the Tsarina was poisoned, and both suspect Evfrosinia of poisoning the cup of water. Ivan orders Fyodor not to say anything about it until they are certain beyond doubt of her guilt. The boyars, close to desperation, plead their case to Philip and eventually win him over. He vows to block Ivan's abuse of power, and confronts him in the cathedral while a miracle play is being presented. As the argument heats up, a small child, carried on the boyars’ shoulders next to Evfrosinia, calls out, asking whether this is the "terrible heathen king". Ivan, angry, proclaims that he will be exactly what they call him – terrible. He is now sure that Evfrosinia poisoned his wife, the Tsarina, and he has Philip seized. The boyars now decide that their only option is to assassinate Ivan, and the novice Pyotr is selected to wield the knife. Malyuta Skuratov arrives to invite Vladimir to a banquet with Tsar Ivan and the Oprichniki. At the banquet, Ivan gets Vladimir drunk while the Oprichniki sing and dance around them; a tipsy Vladimir mentions that there is a plot to kill Ivan, and that he, Vladimir, is to replace him as Tsar. Fyodor Basmanov notices Pyotr, the assassin, leaving and signals to Ivan who, pretending surprise at Vladimir's revelation, suggests Vladimir try being Tsar for a while. He has the Oprichniki bring throne, orb, sceptre, crown and royal robes, and they all bow down to "Tsar Vladimir". Then Ivan tells Vladimir to lead them to the cathedral in prayer, as a Tsar should lead. Hesitantly, Vladimir does. In the cathedral, the assassin runs up, stabs the mock Tsar and is immediately seized by Fyodor and Malyuta. Evfrosinia arrives, jubilant at the apparent death of Ivan, until she sees Ivan alive; rolling the corpse over, she realizes it is her own son. Ivan orders Fyodor and Malyuta to release Pyotr, the assassin, and thanks him for killing not only "a fool", but "the tsar's worst enemy". He sentences Evfrosinia, who is holding the crown her son was wearing and is singing over his dead body as if deranged. At the end, Ivan is seen proclaiming that all his enemies within Moscow are ruthlessly vanquished and he can now turn his attention to those outside.

This is a fine colorized version of the Soviet historical film about the life and state activities of Tsar Peter I, the reformer of Russia of the XVIII century, starting from the Battle of Narva in 1700 and ending with the adoption of the title of emperor by Peter the Great in 1721. Unfortunately there are no subtitles.

The film is set during final days of Czarist Russia and revolves around a peasant who rises through the ranks of the Russian army ending up a lieutenant. His life is made increasingly difficult by the aristocrats and officers around him who are resentful of his progress. He then finds himself rejected by a princess he falls in love with and, having been caught in her room, is put in prison. There he is stripped of his rank, but soon after the Russian Civil War starts, and as a result of the Red Terror, the tables are turned.

This is an Italian-French-German co-production based Alexander Pushkin's history of Pugachev and his Novela, THE CAPTAIN'S DAUGHTER. In 18th century Russia, Imperial officer Piotr Grinov is dispatched to a faraway isolated outpost where his loyalties are tested during the Pugachev Rebellion against the Empress Catherine II.

The Cossacks is believed to be somewhat autobiographical, partially based on Tolstoy's experiences in the Caucasus during the last stages of the Caucasian War 1850's.

This is a Soviet era biography. It depicts Ukraine under the rule of Poland. Polish nobility committing outrages, burning villages one after another. The newly elected Hetman of Zaporozhian Cossacks Bogdan Khmelnitsky gathers the army of defenders of the Setch to meet the threat.

These are two overlapping parts of the first Russian feature film. The first part (36 min.) includes English titles, while the second (59 min.) does not. The epic film chronicles the siege of Sevastopol in the Crimea and its defense by the Russian army, navy and civilians.

Based on the posthumously published 1841 novel DUBROVSKY by Alexander Pushkin, the film is about a lieutenant in the Russian army who catches the eye of Czarina Catherine II. After he rejects her advances and flees, she puts out a warrant for his arrest, dead or alive. When he learns that his father has been persecuted and killed, he dons a black mask and becomes an outlaw. The masked theme was not in the original novel, but was inspired by Zorro.

Jani Beg kills his brother Khan Tini Beg and replaces him as Khan of the Golden Horde at Saray. Soon, his mother Taidula goes blind and Jani Beg is desperate to have her blindness cured. Alexius, Metropolitan of Moscow ) has reached fame as a wondermaker and Jani Beg orders Muscovite Grand Prince Ivan the Fair to send Alexius to him as a healer. Alexius is reluctant but Ivan sees this as a rare opportunity to delay the inevitable Tatar attack on Moscow. Eventually, Alexius succumbs and, accompanied by Jani Beg's retainers Timer and Badakyul, travels to Saray with his aide Fedka. They fail to cure Taidula's blindness and Alexius is banished, while Fedka is taken as a slave for desecrating the threshold. After a period of suffering and subsequent prayer by Alexius, Taidula's eyes are healed. Alexius and Fedka return to Moscow. Shortly after, Jani Beg is assassinated by his son Berdi Beg, bringing about the beginning of the Khanates' end.

A silent American film depicting a warrior community in the Northern Caucasus. It is loosely based upon a novella by Leo Tolstoy and stars John Gilbert.

At the end of the Russian Civil War, a Red Army soldier, Fyodor Sukhov, is charged with guarding the harem of a Turkmen Bashmachi guerrilla leader.

ILYA MUROMETS is a fantasy based on Russian folk epics about the famous hero, who embodied the best features of the Russian people. Ilya Muromets, along with Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich, are favorite characters in Russian folklore. Ilya Muromets is a Russian and Ukrainian hero who managed to protect the Rus' land from evil enemies, defeating their army of many thousands. He saved Rus' from various monsters: the Nightingale the Robber and the Serpent Gorynych. This was the first Soviet widescreen film. 106,000 extra soldiers took part in the filming, as well as 11,000 horses. Ilya was probably a real person who is honored among Eastern Slavs as a saint and is is interred in the Kiev Pechorskaya Lavra (Monastery of the Caves).

CHEKIST is Post-Soviet feature film that depicts the full depravity of Cheka justice. This is not for the sensitive or the squeamish. It is more of a horror film than a drama.

ADMIRAL narrates the life of Alexander Kolchak, a vice admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy in World War I and leader of the anti-communist White movement during the Russian Civil War. The film also depicts the love triangle between the Admiral, his wife, and the poet Anna Timiryova.