A Gentleman in Moscow

I just finished this eight episode "limited series", which is based on
a novel (as opposed to fact). I point that out because I've read a
great deal about the Soviet Union and have never heard of a member of
the nobility - the protaganist was a Count when Lenin launched the
coup that overthrew the democratic Provisional Government - treated
anyone the way this Count was.

Lenin and his merry band of Bolsheviks loathed the aristocracy - among
other institutions, like the church - but the story has the
Count summoned to a tribunal shortly after the coup where he appears to
face execution merely for his membership in the aristocracy. But someone
points out a poem that was deemed pro-Revolution that was attributed to
him and the tribunal decides to put him under house arrest at a posh
hotel for the rest of his life. In all my reading of actual history
books, I've never heard of a case like this but okay, it's a work of
fiction, let's pretend the Bolsheviks had that much benevolence.

The story proceeds from there. Count Rostov, now merely Alexander
Rostov, is evicted from the posh room where he had been staying and
moved upstairs - way upstairs - to former servants quarters. He
befriends a little girl that is staying in the hotel and she shows him
a variety of secret passages that enables him to see a great deal of
the hotel that isn't known to even the staff of the hotel. Rostov
meets a famous (Russian) movie actress and has a relationship with her.
All the while, a sinister secret policeman keeps tabs on him - and
gradually becomes a friend of sorts.

I don't want to spoil the story for anyone but suffice it to say that I
found myself liking most of the characters and think you will find it
rewarding viewing, provided you aren't looking for historical accuracy.
Ewan MacGregor plays the count and the actress is played by Mary
Elizabeth Winstead. (I was surprised to learn that she was American
given her excellent British accent and that she's also MacGregor's
real-life wife.)

The one thing I found really jarring in the story was the presence of
several characters played by black actors. The most important of these
was the man playing Mishka, Rostov's old friend, who had a senior role
amongst the Bolsheviks. There was also a black man that was the
Minister of Culture. According to Wikipedia, Mishka was made to be a
black man, apparently to satisfy diversity requirements for the
production even though blacks, both then and now, were an exceedingly
tiny percentage of the Soviet/Russian population, much less than 1%.
[I've never heard of any blacks in important positions in the
Bolshevik/Communist party or Soviet government; heck I can only  name
two "important" women in the Soviet government right up until the
present, Alexandra Kollontai, an early Commissar, and Natalia Krupsky,
Lenin's wife and widow, who remained in the Politburo until her death.]
They even had the black Minister of Culture involved in a homosexual
affair which Rostov helped cover up. I assume that was to placate the
Alphabet Mafia so that they could "see themselves" in this story. The
other jarring thing was that Mishka wore dreadlocks in many scenes and
a "man bun" in at least one scene. I have no knowledge of "hair history"
but were those styles even in existence in the 1920s through 1950s when
this story is set? So, if you find this sort of thing jarring, you
might have issues with A Gentleman in Moscow. But if you can get past
the flagrant inaccuracies, you might well enjoy the story.

--
Rhino