Romanovy: Ventsenosnaya semya

I was expecting little of this film, but was so pleasantly surprised after I had finished watching it. In fact the last time I was so pleasantly surprised was in 1994 after seeing the Shawshank Redemption for the first time in its last week playing in the theatres.

I feel this movie should at least have been nominated for best foreign picture.

This movie is an accurate historical depiction of the final year and a half of life of the Russian royal family prior to their tragic execution in 1918 by Bolsheviks. A film about execution and tragedy often falls flat on its face because the viewer walks away feeling empty, sad, and depressed, but here is an entirely different situation.

The director paints a true picture of the love all family members had for one another, and at the same time shows the type of callous and cynical people were in power after the revolution.

Finally we are showed footage of the canonization of the family as martyrs for the manner in which they accepted their death, without any prejudice to their evil executioners.

It is a heavy film, but one that does inspire. This film is incredible, if at least for its accurate historical re-enactment.