ImpErrator

Romanovy: Ventsenosnaya semya (2000)

Incredibly beautiful piece of art, but not for everyone

A slightly pro-monarchic version of the story, but very honest nonetheless. As historians say Nicky was more incompetent than anything, he was not ready for the throne, he was not ready for war or politics (the infamous tennis-interrupting telegram incident) but he was not evil, bloodthirsty or "bloody" as his nickname was at the time.

This film presents him as a family man, which is not a lie, since most of the film shows the family under captivity.

The film is, however, sanitized. They did not show the mistreatment of the family while they were under house-arrest.

The acting is amazing, however. From the soldier refusing his superior's orders, to the person responsible for moving the family (against his will? ambivalence) to the Tsarevich's friend, sad to see the family "go."

The children behaved like real children, the mixed feelings everyone had about everything... it's quite deep, even if the story is very straightforward.

The moment the monarch is dethroned it becomes apparent that there was no escape for the family. Dissolving the monarchy did not satisfy the Bolsheviks, so the writing was on the wall.

All in all, it's a great, light-hearted film even if it's very sad at the end. Even knowing the ending couldn't prevent the heartbreaking ending from getting to me.