Product Details

• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Letterboxed, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Homevision
• VHS Release Date: June 6, 2000
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• ASIN: 0780020448
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #409,480 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The second volume of The Face of Russia documentary series concentrates on the architecture and literature of Russia and how these have helped define the nation's complex personality throughout history. Most prominently featured are the architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli and the poet and satirist Nikolay Gogol, both of whom are considered Russia's finest in their respective fields. Rastrelli's works are shown here to be opulent and formidable, not surprising in a culture where the gigantic is often favored at the expense of the practical. With their golden halls and spectacular fountains, the palaces he designed for Czar Peter I and his wife and successor, Catherine, are masterpieces of extravagant artifice. Their intention, like much of Russian architecture, is to convey a sense of grandeur of almost unearthly proportions. This is not lost in the film's presentation of these marvelous structures, which simultaneously appreciates their beauty and deems them to be "facades of power."

The exploration of the life and writings of Gogol emphasizes the dark humor and taste for the absurd typical of the suffering Russian character behind the facade. Interviews with literary scholars and dramatists reveal how much influence Gogol has had on Russian art and politics, and how accurately his work reflects the hidden soul of Russia. A good portion of this video is devoted to a study of Gogol, which, while fascinating, seems odd in a documentary that touches on many other areas of Russian culture only superficially. Despite this, the second volume of this enlightening series does a good job of further unveiling "The Face of Russia" to the curious eyes of the West. --Ed Noble

Product Description

The Facade of Power examines Russian architecture, from the Eastern-inspired onion domes on churches to Western-type palaces of unparalleled splendor. The program also looks at the writings of Gogol, who revealed the human suffering behind Russia's "Facade of Power." His Dead Souls first inspired 19th-century political radicals, then Soviet dissidents, and still influences Russian artists today.

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