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From: Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: A Gentleman in Moscow
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2024 15:45:53 -0400
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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
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 

-- 
Rhino