Re: A Gentleman in Moscow

On Tue, 25 Jun 2024 12:50:28 -0700
suzeeq <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:

On 6/25/2024 12:45 PM, Rhino wrote:

On Tue, 25 Jun 2024 12:17:23 -0700
suzeeq <suzeeq@imbris.com> wrote:
 

On 6/25/2024 10:55 AM, Rhino wrote: 

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. 

I watched it too and enjoyed it very much in spite of the fictional
elements. And yes, there were nobility, but it was much like the
French revolution - once the Tsar was killed, the aristocracy
either fled to Europe, renounced their titles and/or were sent to
work camps. 

 
They certainly weren't sentenced to house arrest in a posh hotel!
Very 

 
No, that's one of the fiction parts.
 

few Soviet citizens lived well in the years depicted in the series:
only the top Party officials were comfortable like that. Ordinary
Soviets living in extremely cramped conditions, often with several
families living in a single apartment with whole
multi-generational families living in a single room of that
apartment.
 
In fact, most of the nobility fled  to other countries - France in
particular - if they could get away or were murdered during the
Civil War that immediately followed Lenin's coup. The only
exception that comes to mind is one gentleman who had been of the
nobility but favoured the Revolution. He actually managed to be the
People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs from 1918 to 1930. His story
is an interesting one although not one likely to be told in a TV
series:
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgy_Chicherin
 

Thanks.

Russia and the Soviet Union are fascinating subjects; I like to share a
tidbit or two of that now and again if I can ;-)

Mind you, it's not often a "happy" story! But it can make you feel
grateful that the problems we have are not as bad as what the Russians
have had to deal with over the centuries.

--
Rhino