Misplaced Pages

1612 (film): Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editNext edit →Content deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 18:49, 4 November 2008 edit91.149.190.179 (talk) NPOV← Previous edit Revision as of 18:50, 4 November 2008 edit undo91.149.190.179 (talk) →Historical accuracy: Correction - no talking fishNext edit →
Line 29: Line 29:
==Historical accuracy== ==Historical accuracy==


The film is loosely based on historical events and includes some fantastic elements, like talking fish and ]s. The film is loosely based on historical events and includes some fictional elements, like ]s.


According to the anti-Putin opposition coalition The Other Russia, "most of the history has been diluted beyond recognition" . The movie takes artistic licence with real events, e.g. contrary to historical fact, Polish troops are thrown back from Moscow. The ] was in fact an attempt to reach the Polish garrison in Moscow with supplies, the Poles having already entered the city. In another departure from historical events, ] and ] who were instrumental in organizing the ] that led to the expulsion of Polish-Lithuanian forces, appear only briefly at the movie's conclusion. According to the anti-Putin opposition coalition The Other Russia, "most of the history has been diluted beyond recognition" . The movie takes artistic licence with real events, e.g. contrary to historical fact, Polish troops are thrown back from Moscow. The ] was in fact an attempt to reach the Polish garrison in Moscow with supplies, the Poles having already entered the city. In another departure from historical events, ] and ] who were instrumental in organizing the ] that led to the expulsion of Polish-Lithuanian forces, appear only briefly at the movie's conclusion.

Revision as of 18:50, 4 November 2008

2007 film
1612
Promotional movie poster for the film
Directed byVladimir Khotinenko
Produced byNikita Mikhalkov
StarringMichał Żebrowski (Poland)
Mikhail Porechenkov
Violetta Davydovskaya
Ramon Langa (Spain)
Artur Smolyaninov
Marat Basharov
Release datesNovember 1, 2007
Country Russia
LanguageRussian
Budget$12,000,000

1612 is a Template:Fy Russian historical fiction film about the Time of Troubles and the Polish-Muscovite War (1605-1618). It was directed by Vladimir Khotinenko and produced by Nikita Mikhalkov. The movie was released on November 1, 2007 to coincide with the celebrations of National Unity Day on November 4 that marks the expulsion of Polish-Lithuanian troops from Moscow.

Plot

The film is set in Russia during the Time of Troubles, a period of civil disorder, famine and foreign invasion that followed the fall of the Rurik dynasty, which had ruled Russia in various capacities from 862 to 1598. The protagonist, Andrey, had been a servant at Tsar Boris Godunov's court while he was a boy, where he became the sole witness to the murder of the tsar's family by the order of plotting boyars. Now, ten years later, he travels across Russia with a Spanish nobleman, Alvaro Borja. After Borja is killed by robbers, Andrey disguises himself in his dead master's clothes and assumes his name, taking the guise of a "Spanish knight." Andrey is unable to forget the tsar's daughter, the beautiful Princess Ksenia, who he suspects survived the massacre of the tsar's family, and launches into a series of adventures in search of her. Andrey's story of love is played out against the background of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's military intervention in the dispute for the throne and the ensuing power struggle.

Historical accuracy

The film is loosely based on historical events and includes some fictional elements, like unicorns.

According to the anti-Putin opposition coalition The Other Russia, "most of the history has been diluted beyond recognition" . The movie takes artistic licence with real events, e.g. contrary to historical fact, Polish troops are thrown back from Moscow. The Battle of Moscow (1612) was in fact an attempt to reach the Polish garrison in Moscow with supplies, the Poles having already entered the city. In another departure from historical events, Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky who were instrumental in organizing the popular uprising that led to the expulsion of Polish-Lithuanian forces, appear only briefly at the movie's conclusion.

Controversy

Critics of the Kremlin have compared it to Soviet propaganda . Questions were raised about the alleged antipolonism of the movie, but the film's director, interviewed in the Polish as well as Russian press, stressed that the movie was in no way intended to defame Poles. The director, Vladimir Khotinenko, claimed it was made for entertainment purposes as well as to raise awareness of the new holiday among the general public .

International as well as Russian critics suggest that the movie, which was commissioned by the Kremlin , showcases key political ideas pushed by the Kremlin in advance of the parliamentary elections of December 2007: the necessity of strong leadership, the treachery of foreigners, and the importance of patriotism. The Time of Troubles, as portrayed in the film, represents the last decade of the 20th century, when Russia was a weak, anarchic and criminalised state heavily influenced by the USA. . Khotinenko was quoted as saying, "It's important for me that the audience feel pride. That they didn't regard it as something that happened in ancient history but as a recent event. That they felt the link between what happened 400 years ago and today.".

References

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "1612" film – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

External links

Categories: