The last tsars

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Television series
German title The last tsars
Original title The Last Czars
Country of production Vilnius , Lithuania
original language English , Russian
year 2019
length 45 minutes
Episodes 6 in 1 season
genre Docudrama
First broadcast July 3, 2019 on Netflix
German-language
first broadcast		 3rd July 2019

The Last Tsars is an American series that, as a hybrid of documentary / narrative and drama, tells the last decades of the 300 years of rule over Russia by the House of Romanow and Romanow-Holstein-Gottorp , in particular about Tsar Nicholas II. , his wife Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna , Rasputin and the impostor Anna Anderson .

Episode list

  1. The Chosen One (originally The Chosen One )
  2. The boy ( The Boy )
  3. Anarchy ( Anarchy )
  4. War ( war )
  5. Revolution ( revolution )
  6. The house for special use ( The House of Special Purpose )

action

After the surprising death of Tsar Alexander III. in 1894, the 26-year-old Nikolaus Alexandrowitsch Romanow is crowned as Nikolaus II. The marriage with the 22-year-old Alix von Hessen-Darmstadt is preferred - she is crowned as Tsarina Alexandra Fjodorovna. During the festivities on the fairground, there was a tumult in which several thousand people were killed, which is seen as a dark harbinger of the future rule of the tsar.

After four female descendants, which built up increasing domestic political pressure, their son Alexei Romanov was born in 1904. But he is terminally ill with the "hemophilia" ( hemophilia ) that his mother inherited. They keep the disease a secret. Doctors cannot cure Alexei and therefore they seek advice from the itinerant preacher Rasputin, who, through his aura, manages to calm mother and thus son.

Nikolaus denies proposals to modernize or open up the country and intensifies his claim to autocratic power. He pursues an uncompromising policy of oppression against the self-government efforts of the national minorities and against the bourgeoisie and workers who increasingly demand political participation and social reforms.

In 1904 the Russo-Japanese War broke out , ending with a devastating defeat for Russia and further weakening the Tsar. Domestically, where there are revolts against the oppression of national minorities and the working class. Foreign policy, because he not only loses the war against Japan, but also sends the Baltic fleet , which is important for security against Europe, to East Asia, which is destroyed there in 1905.

Rasputin's influence on the tsars grows and with it the suspicion of him, while tsar Nicholas brutally cracks down on the peasants' uprisings who are suffering from famine. The tsar's support is waning. Aristocrats distribute leaflets sharply criticizing Rasputin's influence on the tsars.

The First World War breaks out and the tsar quarrels whether or not to enter the war. The Tsarina, as a German, and Rasputin advise against it - Nikolaus decides to go to war. After initial successes, the Russian army is being driven back further and further and the losses are increasing. There are revolts in the tsarist empire. Due to the poor overall situation, on September 5, 1915, against the advice of the ministers, Nicholas himself took over the supreme command of the armed forces and left the capital, Petrograd. His wife takes over government affairs and takes advice from Rasputin. Old ministers are dismissed and new ministers are appointed, so that the government cannot work stably or efficiently. This results, among other things, in the catastrophic supply situation at the front and for the civilian population. Rasputin is murdered in 1916 by Felix Jussupow , whom he considered one of his few friends, and other accomplices.

The morale of the troops at the front is extremely bad due to military failures, high losses and inadequate supplies: the February Revolution of 1917 comes . The tsars and the tsar completely misunderstood the situation. The tsar has to abdicate and ends the 300-year rule of the Romanov family. He would like to go to the family home with his family, he is denied it and the family is under house arrest. Nicholas refuses to leave Russia and wants to move to the country with his family. After the Bolsheviks seized power through the October Revolution of 1917 , the life of the tsarist family changed and they were considered prisoners. You will be taken to the Ipatiev House near Yekaterinburg in the direction of Siberia .

There is civil war in Russia . Nobles and officers benevolent to the Tsar, the White Army , fight against the ruling Bolsheviks.

Nikolaus hopes for liberation through the approaching troops - Lenin, who is initially against the demand from his ranks to assassinate the Tsar, ultimately votes for the shooting. Nikolaus, Alix and their five children are shot in the basement of the house.

The action is framed by leaps in time to Berlin in 1925, where a confused woman claims to have survived the shooting and to be the heir to the throne, Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia .

Many scenes are commented on and classified by various historians, such as B. by Simon Sebag Montefiore , whose book “ The Romanows. Splendor and Fall of the Tsarist Dynasty 1613–1918 ”was a source for the series.

occupation

The series was dubbed at Christa Kistner Synchronproduktion GmbH, Berlin, based on dialogue books by Frank Wesel and Nadja Ehret, who also directed the dialogue.

role actor Voice actor
Nicholas II Robert Jack Thomas Schmuckert
Alexandra Feodorovna Susanna Herbert Claudia Gáldy
Grigory Rasputin Ben Cartwright Viktor Neumann
Marie 'Minnie' Feodorovna or Anna Anderson Bernice Stegers Katarina Tomaschewsky
Pierre Gillard Oliver Dimsdale Francois Smesny
Dr. Schmidt Steffan's buoy Erich Rauker
Ella Elsie Bennett Katharina Spiering
Militsa Jurga Seduikyte Marieke Oeffinger
Shura Milda Noreikaite Eva Thärichen

error

  • On February 4, 1905, the Lenin Mausoleum was not yet on Red Square in Moscow ; it was only built in 1924.
  • The Tsar in general, Nicholas II in particular, were not all powerful, but relied on the help of advisers and the government. Each of his instructions relied on the consent of the Russian nobility. In short: it was placed before the nobility, but not above it.
  • Many documents show the wrong alphabet, e.g. E.g. the Bible Rasputin reads from, which was written after the Russian spelling reform of 1918 - Rasputin was murdered in 1916.

Reviews

“The series tries to combine historical accuracy with an unforgettable spectacle rich in beauty, tragedy, sex and violence. However, the result is pathetic. "

- Oleg Egorov in Russia Beyond

"The Last Czars: the historical drama that the whole of Russia is laughing at."

"The last tsars: the historical drama about which all of Russia laughs"

- Viv Groskop in the Guardian

"Netflix's 'The Last Czars' is a shallow, melodramatic docudrama: The series fails as both a live-action narrative and a docuseries."

"Netflix '' The Last Tsars' is a shallow, melodramatic docudrama: The series fails because it tries to be both action-packed narrative and documentary."

- Brenden Gallagher in daily dot

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stream It or Skip It: 'The Last Czars' on Netflix, a Hybrid Drama-Docuseries About the Downfall of the Romanovs. In: Decider. July 3, 2019, accessed on March 11, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Karthik Shankar: Netflix's 'The Last Czars' Is a Bold but Flawed Docudrama About the End of Russian Royalty. July 18, 2019, accessed March 17, 2020 .
  3. ↑ German synchronous index | Series | The last tsars. Retrieved March 11, 2020 .
  4. ↑ a b c Georgy Manaev: 'The Last Czars' debunked: 48 most glaring mistakes in Netflix's series. July 9, 2019, accessed March 17, 2020 (American English).
  5. ↑ Oleg Egorov: Opinion: What is wrong with the Netflix series "The Last Tsars"? July 9, 2019, accessed on March 11, 2020 (German).
  6. ↑ Viv Groskop: The Last Czars: the historical drama that the whole of Russia is laughing at . In: The Guardian . July 11, 2019, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed March 11, 2020]).
  7. ↑ Netflix's 'The Last Czars' is a shallow, melodramatic docudrama. July 8, 2019, accessed March 11, 2020 (American English).