Russia - Land of the Tsars
|
List Price: Our Price: $10.93 You Save: $9.02 (45%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $9.47 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of Russia - Land of the Tsars
Movie Review: Russia
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this item to aid me in a Russian history class I am taking. It was very helpful for this purpose.Movie Review: truth story
Summary: 4 Stars
I just came back from Russia would like to learn more. It is very good reference film.Movie Review: Great idea, average (but still pretty good) result
Summary: 3 Stars
I watched the entire series on TV this week and was really quite impressed. Besides loving history in general I have an odd niche interest in the Tsars of Russia (yeah for spelling it not czar!). I especially like the earlier stuff, entirely bored by the time of Nicholas II and the whole end thing. Just a note, Alexander II is actually my favorite because of a book called The Crown and the Crucible by Michael Phillips & Judith Pella--a favorite hold-over from teen years.Like I said in the title, I loved the idea behind this series. I realize the trend these days to do "bottom-up" history aka social history of the common man. I like that okay but I am very interested also in the leaders, movers and shakers. Some of the tsars are such larger than life characters who had a lot to do with the direction that the huge Russian empire took in their respective reigns. You can't do history then without mentioning them. Thank you History Channel!
My only problems include some cut corners in beginning title graphics, re-enactment footage run a *few* too many times (at least when watching the whole thing in a row) and a tad too much of a sensationalistic feel to some of the narration.
I do not usually buy dvds of TV series so I can't really say whether this is a good buy or not. I can say though that the producers/filmmakers of this series did a real good job and kept me hooked for 4 hours without too much trouble at all.
Movie Review: Good, But Edited From the TV Version
Summary: 3 Stars
I'm not sure why the History Channel keeps doing this but for some reason they sometimes re-edit their titles for DVD, almost creating a new title in some cases. I thought this documentary was informative and a good primer into Russian history. However, for some reason that cannot be explained, this is another edited title. The most noticeable place was in the Ivan the Terrible segment. It leaves out the parts on TV that showed the painting of Ivan killing his son (which was the appropriate place) and completely leaves out that it started because he beat his son's pregnant wife and probably caused her miscarriage. And in one night, he basically ended the line through his beloved Anastasia. However, it misleadingly acts as if Ivan had no other sons to take over. My other problem was ethnicity. Yet again, the History Channel is using heavily made up white actors to portray characters of different ethincities. In this case, it was Asian. It made the documentary difficult to watch at times because it was rather insulting. But overall, the documentary is worth watching.Movie Review: A good summation of Russian history.
Summary: 3 Stars
A good summary of Russian history. Both informative and entertaining. I came accross this DVD by accident after an exhausting and disappointing search for a "Cold War" history DVD package. My search came up empty under the category...well at least nothing attractive. I recently viewed the first DVD and did not fall asleep. Looking forward to the biography segment in the package. Now on to my review of "Russia-Land of the Tsars".
PROS:
-General overview "made easy to understand of a complex history".
-Covers major players and events in Russian history.
-Good sound track.
-Hollywood style theme "Thriller"
-Exciting presentation.
-Good narrator.
CONS:
-Lack of Russian born historians and analysts.
-Short on Russian architecture.
-No mention of Josef Stalin.
-No Cold War coverage.
-B movie style renactment scenes.
-Price "should be under $20"
As a novice to Russian history...overall this was not a bad purchase. Better if price is under $20.