The Admiral [DVD] [2008]

Fixated from start to finish. This was a compelling, thoroughly entertaining if somewhat embellished history of Russia's fight against the Germans in the Baltic Sea during WWI through to the ruthless Bolshevik takeover of Russia. Admiral Koltchak is depicted as a good-looking, brave, confident, naval commander who knows what to do at every moment: just the perfect man! (In real life he was not that good-looing!). The film is well made, with exciting battle and fighting scenes that really make you wonder: how did they do it to make it look so real? Both sides (Reds v Whites) are shown and both sides are depicted as being ruthless, which in reality they were. Not a film to be missed. Watch it, you will not be disappointed.

I liked it! But then I have an interest in turn of the 20th Century Russian history. The opening scenes in the film in my opinion are some of the best. I love the old pre-dreadnought fighting ships and to actually see an early Russian destroyer fully animated with top line CGI and fighting all but an entire German fleet was great! REALLY well put together.Its all subtitled of course, the acting is competent although in my opinion does not glow, however the fact that you are having to read the subtitles adequately disguises this fact.The Russians have certainly spared no expense in the historical accuracy of the settings in this film either.Admiral Kolchak (whom this film studies) is portrayed as a tragic hero fighting for the his country and his country mens best. I have to say that the story of Kolchak is a somewhat fascinating one. He was an authoritarian maniac at one time and an inspired military genius at others, responsible for the torture and murder of many thousands of civilan's in the barbaric Russian civil war he also collected some of Russia's highest accolades for bravery. His supporters were staunch and his detractors hated him without reserve! So much so that the American military attache to white Russia refused to lend any support to his battles due to personal differences!If anything one could say that this is a propagandist film aimed at rehabilitating the memory of an extremely focussed and driven military man who bordered on fanaticismWhen all is said and done though, this film is well worth a watching The Admiral [DVD] [2008 ]

History has always been a somewhat fluid commodity in Russia, with one decade's hero of the Revolution another's traitor as the propaganda needs of the day dictated, and judging from Andrey Kravchuk's 2008 epic Admiral the reverse trajectory is just as likely in the New Russia, with one of Tsarist Russia's most notorious and dictatorial mass murderers, Admiral Aleksandr Vasileyevich Kolchak, whitewashed into a noble romantic hero. It's a bit like a film celebrating the humanitarian achievements of one of Pol Pot's executioners or showing the loveable side of Heinrich Himmler.Former Polar explorer Kolchak may have fought on the `right' side as the leader of the disastrous White Russian resistance to the Revolution, but he was so utterly ruthless in his suppression of the people, thinking nothing of killing and torturing 25,000 civilians in one city alone and exhorting his generals to exterminate entire local populations, that no foreign government in the world would recognise his government. And while a certain amount of communist propaganda might be expected to exaggerate his very real failings and cruelty (which in many ways guaranteed the victory of the Bolsheviks he despised), he wasn't overly popular with his own allies either, many of whom regarded him as a pro-British puppet before even the British turned against him and his Czechoslovak allies handed him over to the Reds. So, all-in-all, not one of the likelier candidates for an admiring biopic with a cast of thousands, but in Putin's Russia such is the stuff of heroes. Like Braveheart, you have to forget any thoughts of historical fidelity and just take it as a kind of wishful thinking period fantasy.Of course, Kolchak was far from the only war hero to spectacularly blot his copybook when he got into politics to save his country from itself, as hundreds of examples from Pompey to Petain have shown, and there could have been a fascinating story in how the very qualities that made him an ideal warrior were disastrous in politics. But that's not the kind of film this is: Admiral is pure print the legend stuff. Kicking off with a spectacular and genuinely exciting naval battle that sees Kolchak (Night Watch's Konstantin Khabenskiy) crippling a German battleship single-handed before despatching it in a tense chase through a minefield, it's clear we're in mythmaking rather than debunking territory here. It's the kind of love story where the sun is always shining beautifully, even when it's raining, where bloody battles are accompanied by love letters being read in adoring voice over, where even in the midst of evacuating a city the hero can find time for a railway station reunion with his lover, where pledges to protect God and country are accompanied by thousands of kneeling extras and soaring devotional music and where even his wife understands why he'd have an affair with the most beautiful woman in all the Russias (Elizaveta Boyarskaya) without kicking up too much of a fuss. His allies may betray him and the odd regiment desert, but the people love him more than life itself - not too surprising since we never see him mistreat a single peasant, let alone destroy a city. All that's missing is John Wayne saying "Aw, truly this man was the Son of God." Watching the film you have to wonder how he could ever have lost so disastrously.Opening and closing on the set of what's clearly meant to be Bondarchuk's War and Peace, it sets its political stall out early: even 44 years later, Party officials want to fire an extra who was the lover of an enemy of the Revolution despite the director's insistence on keeping her because he needs faces like hers (if the casting of a svelte actor as the portly Bondarchuk seems odd, it's perhaps excusable since it's actually his son, Fyodor Bondarchuk). And that's probably the nicest the Communists get in this film. We get plenty of examples of the Bolsheviks' random acts of cruelty and mass murder, but never any of the outrages on the Tsarist side that led to them: indeed, it's not until the Revolution that we even see some workers, the film being strictly an officer class affair until then. Considering the role of the Russian navy in the revolution, it's more than just a massive oversight in a film about an admiral... But then the film's sins of omission are many and massive. It even drops broad hints that Kolchak's government was recognised by the allies while his atrocities are washed completely from the record.So far, so reprehensible. But while it may be crudely simplistic in its unquestioning hero-worship, it's often superbly executed as a piece of epic cinema. Like the best propaganda movies, for all the heavy-handed unjudgemental mythmaking it carries you along with a skilful appeal both to unashamed populist sentiment - it's not how history was but how it should have been - and by not forgetting to be entertaining along the way. It's well acted, beautifully photographed with some spectacularly vivid imagery and the kind of superlative production design that hasn't been seen since the roadshow epics of the 60s. As history it may be a worrying travesty, but as a grand old-fashioned CinemaScope Glorious Technicolor romantic epic with a cast of thousands and some pretty impressive special effects, it's undeniably effective. Still, one can only wonder what the producers are planning to follow it up with - Eichmann: The Garden Party Years, perhaps?Metrodome's PAL DVD boasts a fine 2.35:1 widescreen transfer with English subtitles, but the only extra is a trailer.

A really well acted, and beautifully arranged film. Koltchak is one of a number of remarkable figures who emerged during the end of Tsarist Russia/ Civil War period, though perhaps never recieved the same credit from the western world for his leadership during the Civil War, as other White Army leaders such as Denikin and Yudenich did. His story is well told in the film, which will interest anyone who enjoys Russian history, at a time when the entire country was at war with Germany, and one another. The film covers WW1, the Kronstadt Mutiny, the 1917 revolutions and the Civil War, and is the best movie to come out of Russia for years.

Having viewed the excellent original mini series in its native state from Russian TV i was looking forward to the English subtitle version. It arrived in good condition and in very good time. As i work overseas i was looking forward to spending some evenings watching the saga unfold but what i watched was a poor summary of the original series, with importamt parts of the story and plot being cut out obviously to fit it to a single disc. Anyone watching this will get a totally wrong idea of the quality of the original series which like i say was excellent. My wife is a native Russian speaker so i guess if i want to watch it again i will again have to rely on her translating the more complete series from the original version put out on Russian TV. A Great series cruely butchered in this product. I will attempt to find the original uncut version because it is a great story.Dont buy unless you are happy with a summary not the full series...... Very dissapointed

Film introvabile ma di indiscussa bellezza. La custodia è arrivata con lievi danni ma il film funzionava. Consiglio la visione.

Andrei Kravchuk's ADMIRAL is a sweeping and magnificent epic portrayal of the last five years in the life of Russian Admiral Alexander Kolchak. Produced--perhaps incredibly--with support from the Russian Ministry of Culture, the film unfolds in the beginning amidst the filming of Sergei Bondarchuk's monumental WAR AND PEACE (1964), then quickly fades to a World War I naval battle (1914) aboard an Imperial Russian ship commanded by then-Captain Kolchak (with some amazing special effects and photography). Kravchuk traces Kolchak's great naval accomplishments and his meteoric rise to Vice-Admiral and command of the Russian Black Sea fleet. The abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and the assumption of power by Kerensky is detailed, and Kolchak temporarily leaves Russia. The triumph of the Communists brings him back, and at the head of the counter-revolutionary White forces, as Supreme Ruler of Russia. From this point until his final, tragic betrayal by the French commander at Irkutsk, onrushing events, heroic battle scenes, and a passionate but unconsumated love affair are expertly woven into the drama. Like many good films where we already know the eventual outcome, Kravchuk stresses character and explores the dramatic ramifications of what is happening to his characters---the "forces of destiny." The final execution scene is quite moving, and then there is a transition back to 1964, this time with added meaning.The Russian DVD version is "all regions," and although dialogue is in Russian, subtitles are available in English. The print is very good, although the version with subtitles is at times a bit jerky. Nevertheless, with such a marvelous film, and the chances of it being commercially released in the US so small, I must give this release five stars. It is well worth your time to search it out.That today, some ninety years after the Bolshevik Revolution, the Russian government could support the production of such an epic (and generally favorable) account of the supreme leader of the White forces of the Russian Civil War is incredible in itself. And the film is well-worth the time and effort to acquire. Highly recommended.

I want a dvd that works since the advertisement said Region Free. There was no prompt stating” will not play on most US DVD players !!”

Purtroppo questo film in Italia non si è ancora visto e per vederlo ho dovuto acquistare la versione in russo, ma vi posso garantire che sono felice di averlo acquistato,perchè merita di essere visto !!!!

ero curiosa di vedere un film storico moderno che tratta storia sovietica,bella ambientazione,ma purtroppo trattandosi di guerra civile è un po' truculento nelle immagini