Propaganda

Lenin and the Bolsheviks do not figure at all in the movie proper, and the only "revolutionaries" you really get to see are the men opposing Rasputin in the Duma and denouncing him as a a dangerous, debilitating influence on the Imperial family and the Court. The fact of those denuciations just a few weeks before the murder is historically true, and they were seen as disloyal by the Czar. By the way, the Bolshevik party played a minimal role in the riots in Petrograd that overturned the Czar in March 1917. It was popular unrest which rapidly spread into the army, an eruption of general war-weariness, anger and hunger riots: it was not really geared by the political parties, and Lenin was taken totally by surprise when he heard of it in Zurich (though this is not the picture that was presented in the Soviet Union).

The newsreel footage of the 1917 revolution at the very end, after the scene of Rasputin's burial, was probably tacked on in the 1980s to make it more possible to release the film in the Soviet Union; we don't know if it was around in any form in the 1975 cut. Whatever, dramatically the film is finished with Rasputin being laid in the earth, and I don't think it was unduly unfavourable to the Imperial family, but of course this judgment of what Klimov achieved depends on how you view the living Nicholas, Alix and Rasputin in political terms.

I'm inclined to see Nicholas as a weak ruler who never really grew to face the demands of the war, and who probably felt insecure as Emperor, therefore he stuck to an autocratic system that badly needed reform. The same could be said of Louis XVI in 1789 or of Wilhelm II of Germany, though Willy had better generals, a much more efficient Army and was not actually killed by the revolutionaries in 1918 (people who were close to him in real life often did not see Wilhelm as a strong and efficient Prince, though he could be very stubborn; the british and french press after 1914 of course described him as formidably strong and evil).

While Rasputin was not guilty of all that was rumoured, he was certainly a disturbing influence on the Court and by no means helped to increase their chances of survival. In a sense, his death was necessary, though it happened too late: within three months, the Empire was history. The very fact that he could gain so much influence shows the huge weak spots of the Imperial order.

I agree that in the end the Communists (at least under Stalin) turned out to be even worse for Russians than the Czars (keep in mind however that without Stalin's industrialization programs, Russia would likely never have survived World War II). I would take issue with the idea that now that Communism has collapsed in Russia, the Romanoffs are "worshipped" all over the world--they were hardly model rulers.

I do want to point out that it's very redundant to point out that a film made in Russia at any time from 1917 to the mid-80's has pro-Communist propaganda elements. Except films that had no political content of ANY kind, all films were REQUIRED to have pro-Communist content. ANY film portraying Russian society before the 1917 revolution had to show oppressed peasants and workers and wealthy, decadent, immoral landholders. In fact, despite its "propaganda," this film was itself banned for showing Czar Nicholas in too "sympathetic" a light--he was supposed to be evil and uncaring, not just hapless and confused.

Actually the royals and most of the aristocracy then spoke French. But it is true, Alix became a totally Russianized Queen devoted to the worst excess of that people and the ROC