Nearly a full century of Russian history

August 30, 2010 11:38 AM

RussianFilter: Historical Chronicles with Nikolai Svanidze is an ongoing Russian television documentary series which, starting with 1901, picks out one person per year, every year, of the 100 years of the 20th century in Russia. It's entirely in Russian, of course, but for them as speaks it, it's one fascinating perspective on Russian history, with excellent narration, copious detail, and fascinating interconnections of events, people and places. All of the episodes that are available through Google Video and various other sources, and

1901 — Departure Point
1902 — Savva Morozov
1903 — Ivan Pavlov
1904 — Anton Chekhov
1905 — Sergei Witte
1906 — Aleksandr Blok
1907 — Maxim Gorky
1908 — Ilya Mechnikov
1909 — Yevno Azef
1910 — Lev Tolstoy
1911 — Pyotr Stolipin
1912 — Sergei Diaghilev
1913 — Ilya Repin
1914 — Nicholas II of Russia
1915 — Grigori Rasputin
1916 — Alexandra Romanova
1917 — Lenin and Trotsky in October
1918 — Lev Trotsky
1919 — Anton Denikin
1920 — Pyotr Vrangel
1921 — Mikhail Tukhachevsky
1922 — Felix Dzerzhinsky
1923 — Vsevolod Meyerhold
1924 — Vladimir Lenin
1925 — Sergei Yesenin
1926 — Women and Terror
1927 — Kamenev and Zinoviev
1928 — Dmitry Lihachev
1929 — Russian Kulaks
1930 — Vladimir Mayakovsky
1931 — Pyotr Kapitsa
1932 — Joseph Stalin
1933 — Genrikh Yagoda
1934 — Osip_Mandelstam
1935 — Sergei Kirov
1936 — Andrei Vishinsky
1937 — Children of Terror
1938 — Vavilov and Lysenko
1939 — Nikolai Kryuchkov
1940 — Semyon Timoshenko
1941, pt. 2 — Konstantin Simonov
1942 — Klavdiya Shulzhenko
1943 — Aleksandr Vasilevsky
1944 — Konstantin Rokossovsky
1945 — Georgy Zhukov
1946 — Anna Akhmatova
1947 — Solomon Mikhoels
1948 — Nikolai Starostin
1949 — Temptation of the Bomb
1950 — Viktor Abakumov
1951 — Aleksandr Vertinsky
1952–1953 — Stalin and Beria
1953 — Lavrentiy Beria
1954 — Georgy Malenkov
1955 — Nikita Khrushchev
1956 — Alexander Fadeyev
1957 — Yves_Montand versus Nikita Khrushchev
1958 — Pasternak and Eduard Streltsov
1959 — Metropolitan Nikolai
1960 — Alexei Larionov
1961 — Khrushchev: The Beginning of the End
1962 — Aleksandr Tvardovsky
1963 — Innokenty Smoktunovsky
1964 — Mikhail Suslov
1965 — Aleksei Kosygin
1966 — Leonid Brezhnev
1967 — Yuri Nagibin
1968 — Andrei Sakharov
1969 — Korney Chukovsky
1970 — Lenin
1971 — The Ballerina and the Tsar
1972 — Marina Tsvetaeva
1973 — Andrei Gromyko
1974 — Donatas Banionis
1975 — Elem Klimov
1976 — Dmitriy Ustinov
1977 — Yuri Nikulin
1979 — Vasily Aksyonov
1982, pt.2 pt.3 pt.4 pt.5 — Margaret Thatcher

posted by cthuljew (8 comments total)

Very, very, cool.
posted by atrazine at 11:57 AM on August 30, 2010

It's an absolutely wonderful series; I'm up to 1931 (haven't watched 'em all, but haven't gone beyond that), and this post will be very helpful in continuing. Even if you don't speak Russian, you might give 'em a try just for the historical footage. Thanks for the post!
posted by languagehat at 12:12 PM on August 30, 2010

Fascinating! I hope it's not charged with the gross revisionism that seems to be the stock in trade in Russia.

I'll start with Nikulin 1977. This may seem downright incomprehensible to US readers, but clowns were among some of the most recognizable and beloved Soviet "cultural workers" and public celebrities, even when TV became omnipresent. And Nikulin was, without a doubt, one of the genre's brightest stars for decades, from stage and circus routines, to film, to a later career as a talk show guest and host.
posted by Nomyte at 1:47 PM on August 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Спасибо!
posted by vkxmai at 4:13 PM on August 30, 2010

much thanks, nomyte - i'd be happy reading a whole post on Yuri Nikulin alone!
posted by sawdustbear at 5:10 PM on August 30, 2010

Good lord, Nikulin played the Monk Patrikey in one of the greatest Russian movies, Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev! (He's not even mentioned in that Wikipedia article, but his role isn't insignificant; he's in a couple of scenes, and winds up being tortured by the Little Prince in "The Raid.") I'd love to see a post on him.
posted by languagehat at 5:40 PM on August 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Man, I was so careful, and I still let one underscore slip by. Whole post ruined.
posted by cthuljew at 6:14 PM on August 30, 2010

I totally missed an episode, for those following along:

1917 — Aleksandr Kerensky

This episode comes before the other 1917 episode.
posted by cthuljew at 7:31 AM on September 22, 2010