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From: suzeeq <suzeeq@imbris.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: A Gentleman in Moscow
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2024 12:17:23 -0700
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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.