Admiral
Tags: dramatic

Plot synopsis:
The film opens during the production of War and Peace at Mosfilm Studios in 1964. An elderly Russian noblewoman is set to appear as a film extra until her past comes to light. Although the film's political commissar demands her dismissal since she is a "wife of an enemy of the revolution", director Sergei Bondarchuk is adamant that he needs faces like hers for the production. As the commissar realises the difficulty of identifying her using the file he has, he immediately recognises the elderly woman behind him as the woman he is searching for, while the elderly woman is looking at her own 1910s photo.
The film flashes back to the Baltic Sea in 1914. Captain Alexander Kolchak (Konstantin Khabensky) is laying naval mines from his ship in German territorial waters when he runs across SMS Friedrich Carl, an armoured cruiser of the German Imperial Navy. As chaos reigns on his ship, Kolchak sights in one of the guns and succeeds in seriously damaging the bridge of the German vessel. This buys him only a brief respite, however.
Realising that the enemy ship is blocking his line of escape, Kolchak informs his men that the only way to return to safety is to lure the Germans onto one of his mines. As the ship steams into the mines they have just laid, Kolchak leads his men in Russian Orthodox prayers for God's protection. Although they barely avoid hitting their own mines, the German ship is not so lucky and sinks with almost all hands (in reality, the vessel sank slowly and most of the crew were saved).
Later, at their naval base in the Grand Duchy of Finland, now promoted to rear admiral, Kolchak is introduced to Anna Timireva (Elizaveta Boyarskaya), the wife of his subordinate officer and close friend Captain Sergei Timirev. The strong attraction between them immediately becomes apparent. Although Sergei reminds his wife that they took vows before God, Anna is unmoved and wants nothing more than to be with the Admiral.
Although terrified of losing him, Sofia Kolchak (Anna Kovalchuk) offers to leave for Petrograd and let her husband be with Anna if he so desires. The Admiral, however, firmly tells her, "You are my wife and I am your husband. That is how it always shall be."
His feelings for Anna continue to grow, however. When she approaches him to deliver a love letter, Kolchak informs her that they cannot ever meet again. When Anna demands to know why, the Admiral responds, "Because I love you."
Later, he is informed that the Tsar (Nikolai Burlyayev) has promoted him to vice admiral in command of the Black Sea Fleet at Sevastopol. After receiving a last minute letter from Kolchak, Anna rushes to the train station to see off her beloved. She is too late, however, and experiences only an uncomfortable look from Sofia.
After the February Revolution in 1917, officers are disarmed and summarily executed at the Kronstadt naval base. Sergei barely escapes the island with Anna. Meanwhile, a group of enlisted men, now with their cockades on their sailor caps changed from a Tsarist insignia to a red revolutionary cockade, arrive aboard Kolchak's flotilla in Sevastopol and demand that all officers surrender their arms. To avoid bloodshed, Kolchak orders his subordinates to obey. However, he throws his own sword into the harbour rather than hand it over, but the sailors didn't complain about it.
Later, Kolchak is summoned to Petrograd by Alexander Kerensky (Viktor Verzhbitsky), who offers to appoint him Minister of Defence. Kolchak, however, sharply criticises Kerensky for promoting indiscipline in both the Russian Army and Navy. He states that the only way he will accept is if he is given a free hand to restore old practices. Kerensky, enraged by Kolchak's "counterrevolutionary sympathies," exiles him to the United States, excusing that "the allies needs more experts".
In the late summer of 1919, almost two years after the October Revolution, Anna and Sergei Timiriov are travelling on the Trans-Siberian Railroad when she learns that Kolchak has returned and is leading a detachment of the anti-communist White Army at Omsk. Sergei does not want to get actively involved with either side in the civil war, and is dismayed when she returns to their carriage and announces that she is leaving him. After commenting about what a year of Revolution it has been, Sergei helps Anna to pack her things.
After hearing Kolchak's speeches to his troops about defeating the Bolsheviks and "restoring Russia," Anna is deeply moved and goes to work as a nurse among the wounded of the Russian Civil War. Meanwhile, Kolchak is informed that the Red Army is advancing on Omsk, assisted by sympathizers behind White lines. Although his advisors all suggest defending Omsk to the last, Kolchak decrees that they will instead evacuate Omsk and seize Irkutsk as the new capital of anti-communist Russia.
During the evacuation of Omsk, Anna is recognised by a White officer who informs Kolchak. Deeply moved, the Admiral goes to her and announces that, although he made the mistake of leaving her once, he will never do so again. As the train steams toward Irkutsk, Kolchak informs Anna that he has written to his wife Sofia, who now lives in Paris, and formally asked for a divorce. Although he asks Anna to marry him, she insists that there is no need of marriage and that what matters is that they are together now. Eventually, she relents and they are seen attending the Divine Liturgy together.
Meanwhile, Irkutsk is under the nominal control of the French General Maurice Janin and the Czechoslovak Legions. With their defences disintegrating, the Red Army offers them only one way out alive. As a result, General Janin agrees to hand over Admiral Kolchak.
As a massive land force of White soldiers rides and marches toward Irkutsk, Kolchak is placed under arrest by the Czechs and handed over to the Reds. Despite Kolchak's attempts to shield her, Anna insists that, as his wife, she must be arrested, too.
Kolchak is given a cursory trial by the Irkutsk soviet and executed with his former Prime Minister by a firing squad along the banks of the frozen Angara River. His last words are, "Send word to my wife in Paris that I bless our son". His body is then dumped into a hole drilled into the ice by the local Orthodox clergy for the Great Blessing of Waters on Epiphany.
The film then returns to the present, 44 years later at the Mosfilm Studios. It is revealed that Anna - now in her 70s and identified as the elderly noblewoman - survived more than 30 years in the Gulag and was only released during the Khrushchev thaw. Anna Timiorova witnesses a rehearsal for one of the ballroom scenes from War and Peace, as she accidentally bumps into an actor playing as a waiter, breaking a glass of wine, which reminds her of the first time she meets Kolchak, then the film shifts to her imagination as she dreams of the formal dance she was never able to share with her beloved. The fates of the film's main characters are then revealed in an epilogue:
Anna Vasilyevna Timiryova was arrested numerous times following Admiral Kolchak's execution, and survived nearly 40 years in the Gulag before being released in 1960. She died in Moscow in January 1975, aged 81.
Anna's former husband Sergei Timirev became a rear-admiral commanding the White Russian navy in Siberia before fleeing to China, where he captained Chinese steamers. He settled in the White Russian community in Shanghai, where he died in 1932.
In her Paris exile, Sophia Kolchak, the Admiral's wife, devoted her life to her son. She died an old lady in the Longjumeau Hospital in 1956.
Rostislav Kolchak, the Admiral's son, fought with the Free French Forces during the Second World War. He died in Paris in 1965.

Review: Modern Russian historic movie.
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.
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.
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.
"Admiral" is probably the best modern Russian film..
But if I am still aliveCounter to destinyThat's only as your loveAnd memory of youAna Timireva "Your smile that I will never forget, your voice, your hands are the symbol of the highest award for me which can give me life for performance of the greatest aim, military idea, debt and the obligations sent by the severe and unshakable nature of war" These words full of love, emotions and fear to lose his beloved woman were written by Admiral Kolchak to Anna Timireva.
Anna was younger than Admiral in 19 years but love does not have borders and they both understood it.
They seemed to be just ordinary people but their amazing love story and tragic destiny made them legends.
"Admiral" is that type of movies that you watch on one breath and when it ends you don't need to speak with your friends and share your thoughts about the film.
I was crying several times during the movie like it was me who was suffering.
I was deeply touched inside of my heart after I watched this movie.
This movie will make you think about your duty, priorities, life, faith, and too many other important things we never think about in our lives on the daily basis.
This movie is about sacrifice for your country (to the highest possible level), military honor (to the very last blood drop), patriotism, intellect, intelligence, love, faith It is simply an amazing movie that makes you think, tear, laugh....
Soviet cinema provided us with a myriad films on the Russian revolution and Civil War. While many were artistically engaging, all of them had one mission - to portray the Soviet cause as just and right.Admiral finally gives audiences an opportunity to see the other side of the story in a human way, without the heavy handed political approach of its Soviet counterparts.
At the same time, cheap Hollywood-isms are avoided, so if you're looking for a steamy sex scene you'll be disappointed.The 124 minute version of this film suffers from being a bit rushed, with the romantic story taking center stage which obscures other deep elements of the story.
The film focuses on the love story between Admiral Kolchak and Anna Timiryova, in the context of the tragic events of the Russian revolution and civil war.
And rightly so, the main feature is the love story, while history is left to the background.It also does not focus on the life of Anna Timiryova after Kolchak's death - she has been arrested six times and spent long years in the Gulag.
Unfortunately a film cannot focus on poetry, but it should be remembered that the Timiryova's poems have been compared the the poetry of Boris Pasternak.And Boyarskaya really shows that she understood the tragism of Timiryova's fate..
Just a small correction, the filming of 'Admiral' took place before 'Irony of Fate 2'.
So, Khabensky and Boyarskaya duet originally was born during production of 'Admiral'.Liza is a young actress, but she increases her actor's skills and abilities from film to film.
And I think, the aim was attained - new heroine became modern, interesting and attractive for up-to-date public.A lot of excellent actors got only few seconds role in 'Admiral', but they used this time terrifically !And for summing up, 'Admiral' is a great movie which should be felt deeply and only after that - scrutinized..
An interesting, if flawed, biopic about Alexander Kolchak, Russian admiral during World War I, and after the Russian revolution, leader of the Russian whites during the civil war.
I know the Soviet Union ended more than 20 years ago, but I was still surprised to see such a reverent movie about one of the leaders of the Russian whites.
For example, the scene where Kolchak takes command of his army with the blessing of the Russian Orthodox Church is told with soaring musing, and without any hint of irony.
Story of his romance with the wife of one of his fellow officers adds very little (in fact, probably detracts) from the film.
The admiral, as new Alexey Nevski and the nasty Bolsheviks, the traitor and the end of beautiful love story.
The Soviet enthusiasm for great fresco, the Russian way to see the life and the tragedy as atonement are key for images of a world end by an old definition..
Perhaps the movie becomes more compelling if you are raised in the Russian society and culture, but I wasn't.Here is the review of the movie in a nutshell: There was potential for greatness, but it was wasted on a mechanical love triangle and historical superficiality.
He appears to be a good actor too, so if I had to point my finger on someone, I would blame the failure on the screenwriter and the director.But perhaps that's actually how the war happened, which could explain why he lost against the Reds.In the end, the movie fails on both counts: It is not a believable love- triangle drama and it is not a compelling history movie.
Unless you already care deeply about the historical figures in the movie, you wont find yourself moved.I don't recommend it to any audience..
Excellent War movie and love Story.
This is one of the best movies I have watched in years.
Not only is it a historical war movie based on actual events, it is also a very captivating love story.
Aside from the story and acting by all the actors, the music and sweeping cinematography is quite on point.When it comes to battle scenes, the last big battle towards the end is one of those that leaves you scratching your head as to what was going through the heads of the Soldiers when their Commanders ordered them to carry out these massive charges straight into machine gun fire.
Well-made movie that deserves watching again.Now, because it is based on actual events, I am about to Wikipedia the heck out of the characters.
It is just one of those movies where you connect with all the characters so much that you want to read and know more about the real-life people..
Theme of white movement one of the most interesting and grasping in the history of Russia the XX-th centuries.
Kolchak was the leader of white movement and it was actually possible to create a fine film.
Well and so, Liza Boyarskaya such sensation that in first half of film plays the full silly woman.
Probably, he loved one woman of more Russia.
Almost only its scenes with an admiral have caused in me though any emotions.
for a part of viewers, for who Kolchak is a hero not only for his political position, for the last sacrifice and for the status of lover, but for its impressive career as explorer, the film is only a sketch.
a film about war and love and feelings.
What could have been an enjoyable historical film charting the fall of the Russian monarchy and the rise of communism ended up as a Latin American styled, melodramatic soap opera.
Had they cut the romance scenes down by 95% it would have been an excellent historical drama - they certainly had the budget for it.And finally.
I'd like to have thought it was for the non Russian audience but it wasn't!
Not that we don't need non-thinkers from time to time, but this movie doesn't even give its actors a chance to act: the best attitude for the man is the heroic brave grin, and for the woman - the pretentious yet vulnerable smile of adoration or resignation.
They are even trying to show, that he can fell in love with somebody and some morons even think, that it is real "stirring story of love, honour, patriotism and heroism".
A stirring story of love, honour, patriotism and heroism.
A sweeping historical epic and moving love story reminiscent of David Lean's epic Dr Zhivago, Admiral is a big budget film set against the turbulent history of Russia between 1914 and 1920.
The central character is Admiral Aleksandr Vasilevich Kolchak (Konstantin Khabenskiy), a genuine Russian hero – Arctic explorer, hero of the Baltic campaign in World War I – who became leader of White Russia after the revolution and was executed as a traitor by the Bolsheviks in 1920.
Kolchak also embarks on an affair with Anna Timireva (Elizaveta Boyarskaya), the wife of his best friend and fellow officer.
This marvellous film from director Andrei Kravchuk (The Italian, etc) explores the destruction of the opulent way of life of Imperial Russia as well as the brutal horrors of war.
A stirring story of love, honour, patriotism and heroism, Admiral has been beautifully shot in widescreen and its visuals are often breath taking..
Not a love story..
The film was interesting and watchable, but lacked focus regarding the central characters and the love story, which a film like this seems to require.If one compares it to the similar film Dr Zhivago, David Lean was able to articulate the political events in a convincing and intelligent manner, and at the same time provide us with a moving love story as the central focus of the movie.
Cameron's 1997 Titanic succeeded in a similar way.But the Admiral lacks the narrative structure of Zhivago and Titanic, and seems to jump around haphazzardly between history, patriotism, heroism and love, never giving us a chance to see how the love developed.
Perhaps this has to do with the fact that is is based on a true story and they didn't want to invent too much, like Cameron did in Titanic.
In the first battle-scene Admiral Kolchak is a fearless, brazen Russian, completely nonchalant as his ship was bombarded with shells and the bodies of his own crew members were reduced to bloody pulps.
Konstantin Khabenskiy, who plays Kolchak, enthralls us, and the final scenes on the Trans-Siberian train to Irkutsk, and his eventual betrayal, are memorable.Definitely a film worth watching, but it shouldn't be called a love story because the drama is focused on the tragic and brutal events perpetrated by the Bolsheviks, and long, suffering march by kolchak's army.
In the end it's the story of a good man, who fought hard and bravely for his country, only to be murdered by his own countryman.
Good to see that Russia can make films like this now, and that it is beginning to show a different perspective on the events of the revolution..
A Well Served Story of Love and War. Perhaps I was not the only moviegoer who was reluctant to go and see this film.
For too long time Russians have been fed with another history of Great October Revolution, and now the trend is to try and show it in complete reverse.
And then, the main storyline is love, and civil war appears to be just a background, but an essential background as the title character Kolchak is the head of the White Guard Army faithfully fighting for ideas and beliefs of falling Russian Empire.
The story is very well served, focusing not on the fall of Empire and what followed that fall, but on the personality of Kolchak himself.
Being trapped by enemies on severely damaged ship with half of the crew either dead or invalid, then-captain Kolchak single-handedly manages to cause irreparable damage to German "Karl Friedrich" ship and win the battle, which looks a bit surreal.
What follows is Kolchak's rise and Russian Empire's fall intertwined with a strong feeling between him and his friend's wife, Anna.
The title character of Kolchak is brilliantly portrayed by Konstantin Knabensky, who finally gained the maturity needed and a slight tinge of pathos which never goes away throughout the entire movie.
Another notable character is Sonya, Kolchak's wife played by Anna Kovalchuk.
This stoic woman endured her husband's numerous adulteries with infinite grace and patience, finally losing him to the femme fatal Anna Timireva but never stopping to love him.
The character of Anna herself was meant to be the highlight of the movie, an image of a wealthy married woman who gives up everything to follow her true love through war and misery, but instead appeared to be a flat, insignificant, and very badly played by Elizaveta Boyarskaya role.
She doesn't care whether she loves Kolchak, doesn't care if he is dead or alive - she just moves and talks respectively to the storyline.
That's why the love story itself fails to be delivered on screen and leave the audience with any message.
Having said that, it doesn't mean that the movie is bad at all, it just lacks this emotional grip on the audience in terms of love story, but it delivers the story of one man who attempted to change the history, and the history itself behind that man..
Well if you watch "Admiral" and have some sympathy towards the royal Russia, you'd pull that shallow conclusion.A heroic admiral of Royal Russian Navy, with a deep sense for justice, religion and fairness falls into a twist of revolution and love with a breathtaking young woman, who happens to be married to one of his colleagues.
Eventually the most noble Mr Admiral gets shot by commie bad guys while the fair lady lives to tell the story.
hahaha.I'm not Russian but you don't need to be one in order to see the one sided shallowness of the story.
The truth is somewhere in the middle as ever, and if you look for that nice balance of history and film, you won't find it in Admiral.This beyond any doubt was a costly project.
After being sent out to the sea, two times before, in the Russo-Japanese War and the First World War. All that Vice Admiral, Alexander Kolchak (Konstantin Khabenskiy) wants to do, is find who is his true-love is: his wife, Sofia Kolchak (Anna Kovalchuk) & fame poet, Anna Timiryova (Elizaveta Boyarskaya) back home.
However, the call of war, is calling his name, once more, as he has to make, another choice, choose to lead of the anti-communist White Movement against the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War, for the love of his country or abandoned his noble cause, for the chance for a normal life with his love ones.
Without spoiling the movie, too much, the film remind me, so much of 1965's Doctor Zhivago in story-structure, having flashbacks tell most of the story.
As much as I love war scenes in this war film, there is this eerily unrealistic that come with some of the sequences.
Not only are most of those scenes, historic inaccuracy, like the sinking of SMS Friedrich Carl in November 1915, when it sunk for real, two years earlier; but the computer-animation ships don't look like, they're really there.
Directed by Andrey Kravchuk, the romantic sequences are kinda below standards, too as the movie rarely gives anytime, for the relationship between Kolchak and Timiryova to deliver.
Another thing, the film fails to tell, is a little background, like how Kolchak honestly became an Admiral.
I'm not saying the film has to show the events of his life during the Russo-Japanese War, but a small mention would do.
After all, Kolchak's life during that war, was very interesting and intense.
Another thing, the movie doesn't show, is how Kolchak became the leader of the White Movement after his meeting in Petrograd.
It would make a lot more sense, if the movie mention that the reason, why he choose to come back to Siberia to fight back against the reds, is because he knew that area, best.
Nor does it expose, the many of deaths by citizens, cause both from the Reds and the Whites, during this time.
While, there is a lot of debate if Kolchak in true-life was a natural patriotic hero for liberty, or an autocratic man seeking power.
It's just nice to see that, after decades of being vilified by the Soviet government, Kolchak is now just now, seem as a controversial historic figure in post-Soviet Russia.
Elizaveta Boyarskaya as Anna Timiryova is a beautiful, however, her character lacks depth, so her acting doesn't shine, besides loving the Kolchak character in most of her key scenes.
I would love to see, more of her acting, in other ways, like showing Anna's career as poet and a nurse.
Nor does the movie talk or show Anna Timiryova's young son, the fame avant garde artist Vladimir Timirev, who was around, Kolchak are the time.
Despite that, the movie is pretty good.
The movie is indeed in Russian, but DVD does have English subtitles.
Overall: Despite some faults, Admiral is still a movie worth, seeing.
It's kinda rare to see, a Russian movie about the White Movement.
The film is based on real facts of the biography Kolchak naval commander, as well as the events of 1918-1920.
On War. About love.
To live, to think, to feel like the main characters.
Somewhere in the middle of the film had the feeling that at the end of Kolchak Shot.