Admiral (2008) Russian film

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Djoser
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Admiral (2008) Russian film

Post by Djoser »

Just watched this movie about the Russian Admiral Kolchak:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiral_(film)

It's got a great scene in the beginning where a German 'armored cruiser' (as described in the article, but it looks more like a battlecruiser) is led over a freshly laid minefield by Kolchak in an old destroyer/minelayer, and another scene in which one of the 1905 era battleships slugs it out with some heavy artillery on land.

The first scene is fictional but very well filmed. Here is the Youtube video of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_rNUH3h ... re=related

I wound up fast forwarding over the parts in between, since I don't understand Russian.
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Rick Rather
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Re: Admiral (2008) Russian film

Post by Rick Rather »

That was extraordinarily good! Great effects, great editing... I wish more naval movies were made like this.

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:
Just because it's stupid, futile and doomed to failure, that doesn't mean some officer won't try it.
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RF
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Re: Admiral (2008) Russian film

Post by RF »

It appears that the Wiki page referred to has had its content removed - there seems to be no information on the film.

Looking at the You Tube video I was wondering just how accurate the depiction of the Russian crew was - they seemed to be more Soviet than Czarist, certainly the officers. My impresssion of the Czarist Navy is that it wasn't as spic and span as it is depicted here.....
''Give me a Ping and one Ping only'' - Sean Connery.
Djoser
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Re: Admiral (2008) Russian film

Post by Djoser »

OK sorry about that wiki link, for some reason the ")" at the end isn't part of the link in the post (even though it looks like it). If you add that ")" to the end in your address bar, it should work.

About the officers in that first battle scene (in the YouTube link), yes they looked way too neat and clean, and there were an awful lot of them. I can't imagine that many officers looking so sharp on a little dinky 1905 era destroyer laying mines in 1916.

However, the real-life Admiral Kolchak apparently went out with the small ships laying the mines as a matter of principle. He was supposedly something of an authority on mine warfare.

Later in the film a whole lot of enlisted rank sailors gun down, beat, and bayonet a bunch of officers, so the gap in status and ensuing resentment is dealt with realistically to some extent. And Admiral Kolchak throws his dress sword into the ocean rather than surrender it to the Revolutionary sailors on his ship--one of the more dramatic and significant moments of the movie. The real life Admiral Kolchak was not popular with President Wilson or the American commander of forces in Russia 1919-1920. They regarded him as being too monarchist and autocratic, and they refused to help him--this no doubt contributed to the circumstances leading to his execution. And perhaps to the ultimate success of the Red Army.

They made an excellent replica of what appears to be a Borodino class battleship which is featured in the duel with the heavy land artillery. Great scene, well worth finding the movie for it.

The opening scene might be a bit far-fetched in showing them all praying while a very large vessel of at least armored cruiser size is shooting at them without the kind of effect that this would have had, in a straight out chase as depicted, without evasive maneuvering. Granted the future admiral takes out the bridge of the German ship with a fantastic shot, and buys them some time, but it's still stretching it. Nonetheless the scene is exciting and very well filmed, and the ships look terrific.
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