Russia - The Land Of The Tsars

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Editorial Reviews
One of history's most overbearing monarchies gets an epic documentary exposé in Russia: Land of the Tsars, a three-hour-plus history of the lives and loves of a line of truly world-class autocrats. After a brief account of Russia's Viking origins and Mongol subjugation, Russia: Land of the Tsars gets to the heart of the matter, the long history of tsarist rule (tsar is Russian for "Caesar" ), culminating in the 300-year Romanov dynasty, which was finally toppled by the Russian revolution. The big names in this history get most of the airtime, of course, including Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great. The tales are bloody, full of assassinations and mass butchery, with more than one monarch killing his brother or even his own son, sometimes to preserve the dynasty, sometimes in a fit of pique. While not lacking in expert historical commentary, Russia: Land of the Tsars gives its subject real scandal-sheet treatment, sensationalizing the violence with stylized montage and dramatic music. This less-than-scholarly approach suits the subject matter perfectly -- after all, they didn't call him Ivan the Terrible for nothing. And complementing the bloodshed rather nicely are tabloid-worthy tales of grand romances and sex scandals. No amount of sensationalizing, however, could do justice to the real-life denouement in the story of Russia's last tsar, Nicholas II, his wife, Alexandra, their hemophiliac son Alexei, and the mysterious holy man–sexual predator Rasputin. Easily the most intriguing figure in the whole epic drama, Rasputin is examined in greater depth in an episode of A&E's Biography, one of three Biography episodes (Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great also get the Biography treatment) that round out this two-DVD set. It all makes for a truly entertaining history lesson -- with no homework, no pop quizzes, and no commercial interruptions. Gregory Baird, Barnes & Noble

An interesting and informative documentary on the history of Russia's Tsarist regimes.

Files: 2
Codec: asf/wmv
Bitrate: 340 kb/s
Quality: Poor, but watchable
Runtime: 1:26:50 each file.

Enjoy, :)

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