Saturday 24 April 2004

Russia: Land of the Tsars

From Poland in the west to the Pacific in the east, and from the Arctic north down to the deserts of central Asia, Russia is a big place, and it has a history to match. The national story emerges in the course of two feature-length documentaries that focus on the role and character of the leaders, beginning here with the unification of "the land of the Rus".

Four hours may sound like a lot, but such is the scale of the subject and so extraordinary are the people and events that the narrative never flags. Footage of the Romanov jubilee in 1913 gets the film off to a strong start, and the story then switches back 10 centuries to a time when the territory was loosely dominated by Turks, Slavs, Mongols and Finns - and the Vikings, known as Rus, who gave Russia its name.

It came into being after various city states were brought together under a Christian bannert by Prince Vladimir, in AD988. After a memorable cameo apopearance by the Mongol hordes in the 13th century, the stage was set for the arrival in 1530 of little Ivan, who was soon marked out for the status of "terrible" when, as a toddler, he took to lobbing cats and dogs out of the cathedral belfry. His era is covered in detail, as is that of his successor, Peter the Great, 6ft 7in tall and a moderniser and expansionist.

Next week, the 18th and 19th centuries, Catherine the Great, and the abrupt end of the line.

Martin James

Review in The Observer

Review in The Daily Mail