Admiral (2008)

The story of admiral Aleksandr Kolchak who remained faithful to his oath to the Russian Emperor and fought against the Bolshevik rule after the 1917 October Revolution.

Director:

Andrey Kravchuk

Writers:

Zoya Kudrya, Vladimir Valutskiy

Stars:

Konstantin Khabenskiy, Elizaveta Boyarskaya, Sergey Bezrukov

9 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Konstantin Khabenskiy	...	Admiral
Elizaveta Boyarskaya	...	Anna
Sergey Bezrukov	...	General Kappel
Vladislav Vetrov	...	Sergey Timirev
Anna Kovalchuk	...	Sofya
Egor Beroev	...	Mikhail Smirnov
Richard Bohringer	...	General Zhannen
Oleg Fomin	...	Nikolay Podgurskiy
Anatoliy Pashinin	...	Rostislav Ognivtsev
Dmitriy Shcherbina	...	Vladimir Rybaltovskiy
Viktor Verzhbitskiy	...	Kerenskiy
Aleksandr Klyukvin	...	Premer-ministr Pepelyaev
Fedor Bondarchuk	...	Kinorezhisser Sergey Fyodorovich (as Fyodor Bondarchuk)
Nikolay Burlyaev	...	Imperator
Olga Ostroumova

Storyline

Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak is a true war hero and beloved husband and father. Anna, the wife of his best friend, becomes the love of his life. The revolution in his heart mirrors the revolution in his own country. His destiny is to fight the Bolsheviks and bring back the Czarist rule.

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Plot Keywords:

russia | russian civil war | russian history | czar nicholas ii of russia | red army | 

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Taglines:

"Ibo krepka, kak smert, lyubov." ("For as strong as death is love.")

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History | Romance | War

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Did You Know?

Trivia

The title uses old Russian orthography, abandoned after the October Socialist Revolution of 1917.

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Goofs

During the opening sequence at the Baltic Sea (November 1916, according to the captions), Admiral Kolchak identifies the pursuing German armored cruiser as the SMS Friedrich Carl and enters his own minefield in order to escape. Later, when the Germans are about to blast the immobile and damaged Russian vessel, they strike a mine and their ship blows apart and sinks within seconds with a clear big loss of lives. Actually, although the SMS Friedrich Carl was in fact sunk by Russian mines, this happened two years before than the movie shows (November 1914). Besides, she stayed afloat for several hours, enough for the light cruiser SMS Augsburg to arrive to the scene and rescue most of the crew, and only 8 crew members were lost. (In reference to a deliberate mistake, it is very unlikely that an experienced seaman and high rank officer such as Kolchak had mistaken a ship for one that the entire Russian navy knew had sunk two years before.)

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Connections

Edited into Admiral (2009)

User Reviews

Modern Russian historic movie

When I was about to watch this film I did not bother to read the critical articles in the papers or in the Internet. Initially I looked upon the film as just an entertainment, but the impression turned to be much deeper. What puzzles me is the reaction towards the film in the Russian media. After I left the cinema I was most convinced that "Admiral" is worth almost unanimous public acclaim for this film is an attempt to investigate probably the most complicated and still painful period in the history of Russia. And show this period through the destiny of Admiral Kolchak. According to the Khabensky’s words he was to show not a dictator, but a man in love who has also duties before his country but cannot deny his feelings. That is why "Admiral" though being a historic movie is actually neither about war, nor politics. It is a great and beautiful love story. After "Admiral" I was curious to learn more about the Civil War and the figure of Kolchak. Of course it is studied at school, but in fact what is written in the school textbooks is a total mess of facts and dates. But now the reading is more interesting as I can imagine this distant historic statesmen and thus I get a clearer picture of the Civil War in Siberia. Admiral Kolchak’s life was full of everything one can wish to himself: he discovered new lands in the Arctic Ocean and named them, he knew what it is like to win great battles, he was loved by faithful and brave women, he led enormous armies and gave aspiration to so many people. He was the symbol of honorable struggle. I would say that even dry historic books about Kolchak are as exciting as novels. So his screened biography is also breathtaking. "Admiral" is probably the best modern Russian film.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Russia]

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian French

Release Date:

9 October 2008 (Russia)

Also Known As:

L'amiral

Filming Locations:

Irkutsk, Russia

Box Office

Budget:

$22,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$39,143,985

Company Credits

Production Co:

Film Direction, Dago Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1