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1612: Chronicles of the Dark Time
The czar of Russia has died and a power vacuum has developed. This period in the late 16th and early 17th century has been called "The Time of Troubles." There are many impostors who claim to the right to rule, but there's only one heir, the Czarina Kseniya Godunova. She has married a Polish military leader who wants to claim the Russian throne in her name so he can rule all of Russia. As the Poles move in on Moscow in an attempt to install the czarina on the throne, Andrei, a serf with a life-long infatuation of the czarina attempts to save her from her brutal Polish husband.
Release : | 2007 |
Rating : | 5.6 |
Studio : | Central Partnership, Renova-Media, Golden Eagle, |
Crew : | Art Direction, Art Direction, |
Cast : | Pyotr Kislov Artur Smolyaninov Michal Zebrowski Violetta Davydovskaya Mikhail Porechenkov |
Genre : | Drama History |
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Reviews
I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
I've been saying, in a lot of my reviews, that Hollywood films keep falling in a downfall of quality...but, fortunately, for us, viewers, there are a lot of good movies, form other countries...from Indonesia,Korea,China,Japan,to many countries of Europe... Russia has one of the most capable cinematographic enterprise in Europe...it can fight toe-to-toe against Hollywood, and, in many factors, Russia would win.From the remake of The Fugitive(the Russian version is more "cool", even though the American one is great) to Sword Bearer or the "Night Watch-Day Watch" duo-logy, there lots of excellent films, made in Russia...1612 is a historic movie, having the fall of the tzars in a "backstage scenario"...this movie has a well defined story, excellent acting,lots and lots of action, brutal and "in your face"...and it never becomes boring...I've seen it 3 times...and I must say, I'm enjoying it every time I re-see it...a must see for everyone...
I like it, but I don't like it...Funny, but true. As a modern action movie it stands at par with other similar stuff that even Hollywood manages to produce (see "300").Not so much for special visual effects, of which there are virtually none, except for the occasional battle scene, but rather for the silliness in language and story development.It is a simple fun movie. One for popcorn chewing moviegoers.Unpretentious and yet captivating in its silliness.At times, while watching it, I was reminded of movies of yesteryear, such as Errol Flynn's escapades in "The Black Hawk" or more recently Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow's shenanigans in "Pirates of the Caribbean".Costumes and settings are gorgeous though, and even the music is pleasant and appropriate for a movie of this type. But let's face it, it's just another cape and dagger movie, not really Russian history as it pretends to be.Sure, there are hints to that (and many, but then again distributed freely throughout, without an actual chronology). All we get to know is that after Czar Boris Godunov's demise and that of his entire family (but one surviving Princess), there is a period of anarchy in Russia.Add to this the ever-lasting "bad" Polish invader, riding in with very fanciful armor which sports applied feather wings (actually an accurate depiction, but just reserved for the Royal Polish Guards of that time and only worn during parades, never in battle - for obvious reasons).True to history is the fact that after the fall of Czar Boris, Russia had been literally invaded by opportunistic tradesmen from everywhere in Europe. This has been simplified and centered around a central Hispanic figure, represented by a mercenary, and apparently, former Conquistador. The reality though, was different, and the so-called invasion was far less pervasive and intrusive. Europe simply needed new trade routes through Russia and did indeed send out emissaries for this purpose.Yet then the entire story goes through a mystic development, even involving unicorns and a mysterious Hermit chained on a pole in the midst of a forest. It may be significant for Russians but for a foreign audience who may not know all the symbolic significances of this, it still remains a puzzle to the end of the movie.As said, as an entertainment movie, not too bad, but as a pretense in historic fact it really leaks all over.The actors, probably all unknown to the Western world are all competent, especially in secondary roles and do their job quite convincingly. The action scenes (battles, swordplay, fights, etc.) are all very well choreographed and at times, even spectacular.But does this mishmash stand for something?Not really.Not even as other reviewers have stated, as a propaganda movie for the Medvevev / Putin duo.If it is true that this movie was pushed by the Kremlin itself, then the taste of this entity has considerably diminished since Stalin's times. It has become so very simplistic and populist (mind you, not popular) that I question whether they are still able to read Pushkin, Dostoevsky or even just Tolstoy, or whether they too have slumped into just reading pulp fiction if not bad cartoon strips.Not wanting the invasion of Western culture in their Country, in that sense at least, is utterly wasted effort, since this movie proves without a doubt that they have already been "contaminated" by this bad taste kind of trendy movie.What next? Japanese "Animes" to entertain the masses in Russia too?At least Stalin had Eisenstein to propagate his views, and those movies have become true Classics.But "1612"? Forgettable at best.Being of Russian descent myself, I regret this popularization in Russian history. Why can't we have true historic, if not epic movies about the true history of Russia?The theme alone, Boris Godunov, already made famous by a well-known Opera, should entice any film-maker deserving this definition, to make an extra effort and develop a true biopic around this figure. But not just limited to this period.All we have are just excerpts from Russian history. We never get the whole picture. What about the first Viking invasion of Russia, when it was still unknown under that name? In fact Russia takes the name from the first Conquerors of the land, which the native population named "Rus" after their reddish scalps and beards.What ever happened between Boris and Peter the Great. Who were the various successors, what did they do, what have they achieved, how long did they all rule? These are all still unanswered questions that no one ever bothered to tackle with in any serious form.My simple question is: why?Russians of today want to be respected from Westerners and be considered as equals. Well, then help us understand your history in its fullness and allow us to penetrate your culture more thoroughly. Not just through literature, or through music, but also producing movies that open a window upon a respectable (or even not so respectable) span of time and allow us to penetrate this world of the past, to better understand your recent past and even the present."1612" is not it. It deserves only 5 stars out of ten just (and I have decided to be particularly generous) for the effort of all those involved, who nevertheless did their job. But none of these stars are referred to the story, nor the quality of the picture, which in my own opinion, is below the average level of movie-making, which I know to be otherwise excellent.Go back to film school and watch some true classics and you will see what I mean...
This is basically Kingdom of Heaven transplanted to Russia in 1612,and it's just as bad for all the same reasons. It's overstuffed and relentlessly ridiculous, but it manages a few good historical set pieces. If you like clichéd Russian folk sayings, they toss one in every 5 minutes or so. In fact, if you like clichés of every kind, this is your movie. It's way too long for what it is too, committing the cardinal sin of stupid movies by instilling a lot of yawns as it drags on and on. The DVD version I rented also has a major editing error in the fortress siege, where one of the scenes was cut into the wrong sequence - I guess the plot was so pointless no one noticed?
Well if anyone into physics and pure common sense, for them the plot is too unreal that is for sure. But there were so many other "Pure" historical movies with about the same historical accuracy, and I still Loved most of them. This movie is a great show, I personally loved it way better than all the rest recent Russian movies. I believe that if it gets translated to English it'll become a huge box office hit in US and Canada. Great costumes, Good enough acting and excellent special effects alone make this movie worth watching. The only historical series\movie till now that i put above all other is the "Rome" series. It delivered spirit of the era along with quite accurate general facts and an imaginative interpretation from different more simple point of view. Now if we look at the famous historical movies like Gladiator or Braveheart, besides the fact that the actors are much more talented (in Hollywood interpretation of talent) and charismatic, they are exactly as "real" as this one. I gave this movie 8 out of 10 and definitely advice to see it just to relax and enjoy.