|
The
Observer Magazine
- Pick of the Day
Saturday 24 April 2004 Russia - Land of the Tsars One of the biggest scams ever pulled off in international relations has to be the one where Russia convinces the rest of the world that it is so unfathomably deep that it defies rational understanding and must be treated on its own terms. Like a drunken uncle at the Christmas dinner of world democracy. In fact it is a country like any other, albeit much bigger. But on such a vast canvas history always ends up being painted in sweeping strokes, so it is probablly a good thing that Russia: Land of the Tsars buys into all the clichés. This is a documentary from the Old School: all potentous, bass-voiced narrative about wheels of fortune nd the ill-omened birth of kings. The first episode gallops like a Mongool horde through the emergence of the Russian state, before slowing to an invigorating trot through the lives of Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great. It is a pattern of chaos, reined in by sadistic authority; of a sprawling continent regimented by the messianic zeal of its leaders. Full of gruesome and comic anecdote to compensate for the lack of archive footage, this is an amazing story, well told. What was it Churchill said? 'A Riddle, wrapped inside a mystery, inside a blood and vodka-drenched, crazy-eyed man with a beard.' Or something like that. Rafael Behr
|
|||||||||||||
Back
to News Page