I can't even believe that in Russia they are so able to shoot I read Ivanov’s novel a long time ago: much later than its publication, but still it has been about 8 years, and the plot I remember weakly. However, to say that I had high expectations is to say nothing. It turns out that almost a third of my life I waited for this film adaptation in one form or another. Of course, I understood that the Russian film industry could not do anything good, because there were no precedents, but I was waiting and hoping.
And there it is, take it and watch it. And how good he is. Characters are very well revealed: each is given some time, each has its own character, but there are a lot of actors in the frame. Both the local princes and their relatives, St. Jonah, the Voguls, the Muscovites and all sorts of nobles, and besides many are shown in the context of several time periods. In general, the work is titanic to fit everyone in one film. Of course, it would be naive to want, like in the first season of Game of Thrones, 10 hours to be told and shown to us, but here it is the full meter in its classic form. There is nothing to complain about.
The plot is the same as the book. I understand that sounds like a small thing: they treated the original source carefully. However, most of our filmmakers climb into the story with their own hands on their elbows and as a result, usually it turns out some kind of mud à la rus with the princes, who are walking around in mud all the film. The story is exactly what it should be. Part of the folklore-rich lyrical digressions that I remember in the book, unfortunately, were cut out here, and the arch of the same Jonah turned out to be completely different, but it is foolish to find fault here. To put all this in 3 hours would be unrealistic.
And finally, the battle scenes. I'm not a historian, and my level is watching videos on YouTube. But if in other films (including Hollywood) even I manage to notice stupidity and illogicality, then here sword fights, cannon fights and knuckles with cavalry look just not to take your eyes off. Very convincing, colorful and creepy. I applaud standing up. Of course, I am waiting for a review from Klim Zhukov on this film, but I think that there should be no frank historical blunders. Except that Kuznetsov for the role of Prince of Perm is still too small.
I am not going to give you endless compliments.
10 out of 10
Original
