The film by Alexei Uchitel "Matilda" was released the other day. The picture not only became a sensation even before the show, but also attracted increased attention to the history of relations between the Russian Emperor Nicholas II and the prima ballerina of the Mariinsky Theater Matilda Kshesinskaya.
The plot of the tape originates from the moment the Tsarevich and the dancer met in 1890 and ends with the coronation of Nicholas II with his wife Alexandra Feodorovna in 1896. The director did not claim historical authenticity, but we decided to bring some clarity to the course of history.
Nicholas II at the time of communication with Kshesinskaya was only twenty-one years old. But on the screen we see an actor who is clearly over thirty years old. Because of this, you may get the feeling that adult feelings are playing between the main characters, but this is not so. At twenty, the Tsarevich was fond of balls and studies, he had little interest in the struggle for the throne, but he diligently studied with his father and was preparing to become a good successor.
The officer of the imperial army, Count Vorontsov, the hero of Danila Kozlovsky, is a non-existent character. According to the plot, blinded by love for the ballerina and driven to madness, the officer was a threat to the first heir to the Russian throne. But he was not mentioned in any of the diaries of Nikolai or Matilda, therefore, in the history of their relationship, Count Vorontsov had nothing to do, this fiction director.
Maria Fedorovna, mother of Nicholas II, was opposed to the marriage of Nicholas and Alix. She considered the German princess not the best game for his son. This is evidenced by the correspondence of the Empress with younger brother Nicholas II, Georgy Alexandrovich. However, in the film, Maria Feodorovna's attitude towards her daughter-in-law turned out to be the opposite, she was actively involved in the unity of this union and advocated for their speedy wedding.
The "Matilda" recreated the crash of the imperial train in Borki, en route from the Crimea to St. Petersburg. By official version, due to the poor condition of the site railway and high speed 10 wagons of the train derailed. After the incident Alexander III was very ill, and he was taken to Levadia, a village located in a picturesque corner of the southern coast of Crimea. The Emperor died there. In the film, you can watch the scene of the meeting between Matilda Kshesinskaya and Nikolai's father, who is fighting the disease, being in the family circle, already in a wheelchair. This could not be, because. physically the emperor was very far from the palace.
After meeting Matilda, Nikolai went to trip around the world. His main stops were Cairo, Bombay, Calcutta, Ceylon, Singapore, Saigon, Nagasaki and Kyoto. Matilda also learned about the movements of the future emperor from the newspapers. Bored in separation, she became interested in drawing and wanted to paint a portrait of Nikolai, but she could not finish her picture. Lovers sent letters to each other - it was a very romantic part of their relationship. Unfortunately, not a word is said about these events in the film.
distorted historical truth and the line of behavior of Alexandra Feodorovna, who on the screen turned out to be a suspicious, worried, easily suggestible woman. According to the plot of the film, she turned to healers and seers, performed rituals with them and consulted in matters of her personal life. In fact, future empress was not a supporter alternative medicine and esotericism, at least until the birth of Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich.
IN Russian Empire there was not a single person who would stand up for the emperor, and in Russian Federation more than enough such well-wishers
In the Russian Empire, there was not a single person who would stand up for Nicholas II, and in the Russian Federation there are more than enough such well-wishers
Russia sausages are not childish. In psychiatry, this would be called schizophrenia. In politics, they call it an attempt to reconcile and agree with one's past, present and future. The trouble is that all temporary states are changeable. From this, one has to reconcile and agree today with what they stigmatized yesterday. The most recent example is the passion around the film by Alexei UCHITEL "Matilda" about the carnal love of the ballerina Kshesinskaya and NICHOLAS II. Today, we consider this king to be both Bloody and holy at the same time. As anyone likes. But there is a tendency that already tomorrow we will be forced to consider him exclusively holy. Therefore, while we can, we remind you of human nature sovereign, and at the same time about his bloody life path to heaven.
A certain movement "Royal Cross" called on the people to unite against the historical film "Matilda" directed by Alexey Uchitel and sign an appeal addressed to the Prosecutor General with a request to ban the release of the picture on the screen. Nobody has actually seen the movie yet. The excitement of the public was caused by his commercial.
The reason is this - “the picture with incredible audacity included bed scenes Nicholas II With Matilda Kshesinskaya”, and this is “not only criminal in relation to the believing citizens of the country, but also in relation to the state, as it is aimed at undermining national security.”
A deputy suddenly appeared at the head of the anti-Kseshinsky movement Natalia Poklonskaya. According to her, Nicholas II is actually "a kind and merciful sovereign, who radically improved the well-being of his people."
It’s stupid to check a film that hasn’t been released, the Minister of Culture commented on Natalia Poklonskaya’s deputy request to the prosecutor’s office Vladimir Medinsky.
The blind readiness of the heroine of the “Crimean spring” to lay down her life for the tsar caused amazement among many of her admirers.
I just can’t understand why what is considered the first love all over the world, Poklonskaya suddenly turns into a “vicious connection” that offends the religious feelings of the Orthodox? - asks by no means a liberal journalist Oleg Lurie.
Moving to Moscow from a deep province, the insane deputy prosperity that fell on his head, coupled with a lot of free time, may have unsettled the former prosecutor. In addition, it is necessary to make allowances for the fact that she studied history at school using Ukrainian textbooks. And there it is written...
family toy
It is believed that the cheerful Polish Matilda Kshesinskaya was given to his phlegmatic son Nicky by his father. March 23, 1890 after the graduation performance of the Imperial theater school, which was attended by Alexander III with the heir to the throne, a solemn dinner was given. The sovereign ordered that Kshesinskaya be planted next to the future Emperor Nicholas II. The family decided that it was time for Niki to become a real man, and the ballet was something like an official harem and communication with ballerinas was not considered shameful in the circle of the aristocracy.
In the jargon adopted in the Russian guards, trips to ballerinas for the sexual satisfaction of their violent passions were called "potato trips." The heir was no exception and under the name of a hussar Volkova for several years I went to Matilda for potatoes. Until he married Alice of Hesse.
Wanting to keep the secret of his intimate adventures, Nikolai did not let Matilda go through the hands of lustful merchants and perverted nobles. He left her in the “family”, transferring her to the care and comfort of her grandson NicholasI- grand duke Sergei Mikhailovich. The new "owner" was single and also carried away by a gorgeous woman. Sergei Mikhailovich made Kshesinskaya the prima of the Mariinsky Theater and one of the richest women in Russia. Her palace in Strelna was not inferior in luxury to the royal one, which greatly crippled the military budget of Russia. The very one to which the Grand Dukes, and in particular Sergei Mikhailovich, had access.
Official affairs did not allow him to pay enough attention to Matilda, and he asked to "look after" the beauty of the Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, grandson Alexander II. Both lovers knew about each other, but peacefully alternately cohabited with the “witch”, never quarreling, and everyone considered Vladimir, Matilda’s son, his own. He really wore first the middle name Sergeevich, and then Andreevich.
After the revolution, already in immigration in France, Kshesinskaya married Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich and received the title of Most Serene Princess Romanovskaya.
foreign place
Once Nicholas II told the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sazonov: "I try not to think seriously about anything, otherwise I would have been in a coffin a long time ago." It is this phrase that most accurately characterizes the style of Nikolaev's reign. His place was not on the throne, but with Kshesinskaya under her skirt and behind family table. The patriarchal custom of inheriting power not by merit, but by seniority became a trap for tsarism. The rapidly changing world could no longer be held together by rotten bonds: "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality."
It is customary to say about Nicholas that he personally carried out reforms, often in defiance of the Duma. However, in fact, the king rather "did not interfere." He didn't even have a personal secretariat. Nicholas II personally never wrote detailed resolutions, he limited himself to marginal notes, most often he simply put a “reading mark”. He basically did not state affairs. Didn't take them to heart. For example, his adjutant said that, having received news of Tsushima, the king, who at that time was playing tennis, sighed heavily and immediately took up his racket again. In the same way, he perceived all the bad news about the unrest in the country and the news of the defeats in the war.
As a result of such a rule, by the beginning of World War I, Russia's external debt was 6.5 billion rubles, and gold in the treasury was only 1.6 billion.
But Nicholas II spent 12 thousand rubles a year on dear photos with his family. For example, the average household expenditure in the Russian Empire was about 85 rubles per capita per year. The emperor's wardrobe in the Alexander Palace alone consisted of several hundred items. military uniform. When receiving foreign ambassadors, the tsar put on the uniform of the state where the envoy came from. Often, Nicholas II had to change clothes six times a day.
The figure of the king, primarily through his own fault, turned out to be exclusively decorative. It was precisely this circumstance that caused general dissatisfaction.
The entire economic growth of 1913 came from the private bourgeois and capitalist sector. While the mechanisms of power have practically ceased to work.
They could not, since all the controls were in the hands of one person, unable to move them. Tsarism, thus, simply outlived itself.
Nicholas II became Bloody not when, during his coronation on May 18, 1896, 2689 loyal subjects were killed and maimed in a stampede. He became Bloody because of all the methods of governing the state, he decided to use only the simplest - repression.
The worse the situation became, the more often they resorted to them. The revolution of 1905 was preceded by the famine of 1901-1903, which resulted in the death of more than three million adults alone. The tsarist statistics did not count children. For suppression peasant uprisings and the protests of the workers, 200 thousand regular troops were sent, not counting tens of thousands of gendarmes and Cossacks.
And then on January 9, 1905, Bloody Sunday took place in St. Petersburg - the dispersal of the procession of St. Petersburg workers to Winter Palace, which had the goal of handing over to the king a collective petition about working needs. The working people, "like the entire Russian people," have "no human rights. Thanks to your officials, we have become slaves,” the workers wrote in the petition.
The troops met them with cannon and rifle fire. Everywhere the massacre was carried out according to one plan: they fired in volleys, with and without a warning, and then cavalry flew out from behind the infantry barriers and trampled, chopped, whipped the fleeing.
Government report: of those who went to the king, 96 were killed, 330 people were injured. But on January 13, journalists submitted to the Minister of the Interior of the Empire a list of 4,600 dead and mortally maimed by name. Later newspapers wrote that more than 40 thousand corpses with bayonet and saber wounds, trampled by horses, torn by shells and similar wounds passed through the hospitals of the city and its environs.
Thus, the faith of the people in the good king-father was trampled. The wave of general discontent was already unstoppable. During 1905 - 1906, the peasants burned down two thousand estates of landowners out of 30 thousand existing in the European part of the empire. Jewish pogroms claimed the lives of at least 10,000 more people.
In October 1905, the All-Russian political strike spread throughout Russia. The Sevastopol uprising ended with the execution of the sailors of the Black Sea Fleet - the cruiser "Ochakov" and other rebellious ships. Memorial prayers for tens of thousands of innocently killed did not have time to subside, as crop failure attacked Russia. The church, landlords, and tsarist officials refused to share the grain, and as a result, the mass famine of 1911 claimed the lives of 300,000 people. Strikes and shootings began again. A fact has been preserved: in 1914, doctors examined conscripts for the army and were horrified - 40 percent of recruits had traces of Cossack whips or ramrods on their backs.
Triumph of the will
Beginning in the autumn of 1916, not only left-wing radicals and the liberal State Duma, but even the closest relatives - 15 Grand Dukes - stood up in opposition to Nicholas II. Their common demand was the removal of the “holy old man” from governing the country. Grishki Rasputin and German queens and the introduction of a responsible ministry. That is, the government appointed by the Duma and responsible to the Duma. In practice, this meant the transformation of the state system from an autocratic to a constitutional monarchy.
The Russian officers made a decisive contribution to the overthrow of Nicholas II. His attitude towards the tsar-father can be judged by the derogatory name of the popular snack - "nikolashka". Her recipe was attributed to the king. Powdered sugar mixed with ground coffee, this mixture was sprinkled with a slice of lemon, which was used to eat a glass of cognac.
Confidant of the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Adjutant General Mikhail Alekseev - general Alexander Krymov in January 1917, he spoke to the Duma members, pushing them towards a coup, as if giving guarantees from the army. He ended his speech with the words: “The mood in the army is such that everyone will gladly welcome the news of the coup. A revolution is inevitable, and this is felt at the front. If you decide to take this extreme measure, we will support you. Obviously there is no other way. There is no time to lose."
The Imperial Headquarters was, in fact, the second government. There, according to Professor Yuri Lomonosov, who during the war was a member of the engineering council of the Ministry of Railways, dissatisfaction was ripening: “At the headquarters and at the Headquarters, the queen was scolded mercilessly, they talked not only about her imprisonment, but also about the deposition of Nicholas. They even talked about it at the general's tables. But always, with all the talk of this kind, the most likely outcome seemed to be a purely palace revolution, like the assassination of Paul.
In March 1917, it was the military, the commanders of the fronts, who forced the tsar to sign his abdication. The last order of Nicholas II was the appointment of General Lavra Kornilova Commander of the Petrograd Military District.
A few days later, by decision of the Provisional Government, Kornilov left for Tsarskoye Selo to enforce the arrest decree. former empress Alexandra Feodorovna and the entire royal family.
By the way, today the same people who go to rallies in an embrace with the icon of Nicholas II and sing "God Save the Tsar" erected in Krasnodar a monument to his jailer, General Kornilov. And they regularly hold commemorations near him, to which they bring the icon of Nicholas II.
After the abdication, Nicholas II turned out to be so nobody the right person that its existence was simply forgotten for a while. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Government Pavel Milyukov tried to send royal family to England in the care of the king's cousin - George V, but the king chose to abandon such a plan.
Not knowing what to do, the Provisional Government sent Nicholas II and his family deep into the country. The link became his triumph of will. Not a sovereign, but a man, from the moment of his abdication and up to the day of his death, he showed where more character than for the entire reign. How did he say about it Edward Radzinsky, there are monarchs who do not know how to rule, but who know how to die with dignity.
At the beginning of such articles, it is customary to warn about spoilers. In this one, they will inevitably be, although it is strange to be afraid of spoilers in a film based on real events from Russian history, albeit a little, as Aleksey Uchitel admitted, embellished.
IN Russian cinema, which depends on state funding and, accordingly, is forced to express the interests of the party issuing money, now there are three main topics, they are also the notorious bonds: Patriotic War, space and ballet. Interestingly, all of them, and not just the first, are almost always revealed by filmmakers in a retro vein. Space stories based on true events "Salute 7", "Time of the First") and ballet are dedicated to the events of the past. Thus, it is as if a priori it is recognized that in the field of space and ballet we have long lagged behind the rest of the planet, but at least there is something to remember.
These films are about Russian or Soviet victories, to be interesting to the audience, lag behind Hollywood trends - just like in the 1930s Grigory Alexandrov copied American musicals, and Lyubov Orlova studied the make-up and wardrobe of Marlene Dietrich. All recent successful Russian films about World War II (for example, "Stalingrad" Fyodor Bondarchuk) is impossible to imagine without the reference "Saving Private Ryan", who showed how to present military cinema to a modern audience. Just like our modern films about space are made with an eye on "Gravity" that determines exactly how to serve space theme in the 21st century. Films about ballet also have their own landmark - "Black Swan" Aronofsky, and "Matilde" obsession with perfectionism is shown in Kshesinskaya's desire to learn how to perform 32 fouettes in order to outrun Legnani's rival (and to prove to the audience that she did not go to ballet to become a courtesan). With ballet in the cinema, things are worse with us than with war and space - "Big" grossed only 234 million rubles at the box office. with a budget of 370 million, proving that the problems classical dance modern viewers are not close. But in "Matilde" It's not just about dancing, of course.
The biggest surprise in "Matilde"— genre leapfrog. Usually in Russian cinema, such a biographical film is decided as a magnificent historical drama or, given the plot about the love of the not yet crowned Nicholas II (Lars Eidinger) for Kshesinskaya (Mikhalina Olshanskaya), as a melodrama. After all, this is a movie about impossible love, the one about which Pugacheva sang in "Kings can do anything". The teacher, perhaps realizing that the trend has changed and the genre of historical drama can only cause a polite yawn in modern viewers, suddenly shoots a thriller about a love not even a triangle, but a quadrangle (Matilda - Nicholas II - Prince Andrei - Count Vorontsov). The poor crown prince, who suffered from love for six years from the moment he met Kshesinskaya in 1890 until his coronation and marriage to the future Alexandra Feodorovna (Louise Wolfram), is shown here as the only sane man in the life of a prima who does not want to kill her, in unlike Vorontsov (Danila Kozlovsky) and Prince Andrei (Grigory Dobrygin), who eventually married Matilda. Moreover, he and his mother, Empress Maria Feodorovna (Ingeborga Dapkunaite) are rare in this film. cartoon characters With personal characteristics. Vorontsov, in addition to trying to kill Kshesinskaya, is no longer busy with anything, like Prince Andrei, whose only condition is falling in love. In general, Matilda is also only busy dancing and allowing others to love her - she has no other activities or background, which is strange for the heroine, whose name the film is named after.
Contrary to the indignation of Orthodox radicals, who, with their protests against the film, created excellent advertising for it, the average viewer is unlikely to understand that it is in this story of the relationship between a free crown prince and an unmarried dancer that can cause the wrath of believers. "Matilde" it makes sense to make artistic claims: there are a couple of ridiculous pompous dialogues (Nikolai: “What will you give? A bracelet or earrings?” Prince Andrey: “Your life, otherwise you may never know who you really are”), there is no scene Nikolai’s acquaintance with Matilda and her invitation to his chambers (the ballerina ends up on the crown prince’s bed as if the Teacher cut out a logically important connection in the montage), Vorontsov is first hanged and then tortured, and not vice versa, and Maria Fedorovna, who for six years warned her son against compromising his unequal connection, suddenly fades at the most crucial moment and is not even present at the coronation itself.
But to the way it's shown future king, no questions. "Niki" Romanov is the most sober-minded man in this madhouse, where the rest of Matilda's fans are hysterical and promise to solve her. Not only that, he is also a kind, fair king who insists on paying compensation to the families of those who died in the stampede during the coronation. "Matilda" so toothless and innocent that it does not fit into a number of truly scandalous films like "The Last Temptation of Christ"- in a couple of years, when the cause of the scandal will be forgotten, everyone will look at the picture and wonder what the noise was about. Perhaps for Orthodox radicals, for whom Nikolai Romanov is a canonized martyr, the very idea that he indulged in carnal pleasures with a ballerina even before marriage is a sin. For all other viewers - on the contrary, evidence of physical and mental health. The latter is now often lacking in public disputes.
In order to somehow fix this, the filmmakers invited representatives of VKontakte to a private screening of the film. Representatives of the social network, surprisingly, appreciated the movie and are ready to promote it.
I want to express my gratitude to the team working on the film "Matilda" for the opportunity to get acquainted with the material at the post-production stage.
Despite the fact that the film is in the process of production, even from its working version one can appreciate the seriousness of the attitude and scrupulousness of the creators' approach to their own work.
Our platform has always been open to dialogue and opinions, so we decided to support the film, allowing VKontakte users to form their own idea of Matilda.
Let's also collect opinions about the upcoming film. Here are some facts for you to think about:
Fact 1
The main roles were played by well-known Russian (and not only) actors - Mikhalina Olshanska (Anatomy of Evil), Danila Kozlovsky (Legend # 17), Ingeborga Dapkunaite (Burnt by the Sun).
Fact 2
Orthodox activists, historians and State Duma deputy Natalya Poklonskaya accused the filmmakers of violating ethical standards. It is claimed that historical role there is no film in the history, but the picture itself is "terrible, vulgar and offends the memory of Nicholas II."
Fact 3
In a year and a half, about 7,000 unique costumes, shoes, hats, jewelry and accessories were created for the film. The production took more than 12 tons of silk, wool, velvet, cloth, leather and other materials.
Fact 4
Filming took place in historical places: Catherine, Elaginoostrovsky, Yusupov and Alexander palaces, Grand Theatre, Mariinskii Opera House and others.
Fact 5
Do not expect a clear historical accuracy, the authors took liberties in the presentation. But the main story is conveyed accurately.
Fact 6
This is the most scandalous film not only in Russia, but throughout the world. Discussions of this picture are already brighter and richer than those of the same “50 Shades of Grey”.
During the year they tried to ban it twice, but to no avail.
Fact 7
Thousands of people all over Russia came to the prayer standing against the film "Matilda". They were also supported in Moldova, Austria and Serbia.
Fact 8
Director Sergei Aliev plans to show his documentary response to "Matilda" - the film "Matilda's Lie". It even starred Duma deputy Vitaly Milonov.
Fact 9
Archpriest Chaplin accused Putin of a "huge mistake" because the President does not prohibit the release of the film "Matilda".
Fact 10
Representatives of the ROC (Russian Orthodox Church) declined to comment. They are not very worried about the fate of the film. Poklonskaya is indignant.
And here, as we promised, is the trailer for the scandalous film "Matilda":
Viewers of their film "Matilda". Among the audience at the premiere were officials, artists, businessmen and heads of museums where the shooting took place.
Long before its release, "Matilda" became the subject of discussion, and in Lately- a reason for outright extremism on the part of opponents of the tape. TASS talks about the chronology of the development of the situation around the film.
What is the movie about
The film "Matilda" tells about the relationship between the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II and the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya. The picture reflects real events, including the collapse of the royal train in Borki, the coronation in the Assumption Cathedral, the tragedy on the Khodynka field in Moscow.
Preparing for the shooting of the film, Alexei Uchitel spent several years studying hundreds of documents related to the life of the last Russian emperor. Filming was conducted in the interiors of the palaces and cathedrals of St. Petersburg and Moscow, the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theaters.
7,000 costumes were made for the historical performance. More than 500 people took part in the shooting of episodes of the coronation, more than 2 thousand extras took part in the drama on Khodynka. The film's budget has not been disclosed. The screenplay is written by writer Alexander Terekhov, winner of the National Bestseller award.
What is the essence of the conflict
On November 2, 2016, it became known that State Duma deputy, ex-prosecutor of Crimea Natalya Poklonskaya sent a request to Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Yuri Chaika with a request to check the film "Matilda".
She explained that dozens of citizens applied to her as a deputy. It's about how about a collective appeal from public association"Royal Cross" and about individual letters, the politician said. In them, citizens, in particular, complained that this film offends their religious feelings.
In addition, the organization "Christian State - Holy Rus'" sent letters to cinemas urging them not to allow the film to be shown.
The director of "Matilda", in turn, told TASS that the prosecutor's office had already checked the materials of the film and did not reveal any violations.
Later, on November 28, the director expressed the opinion that activists from fake public organizations. "Unfortunately, these people are very aggressive, I'm afraid of provocations after the release of the film on the screens, they break into theaters, exhibitions, what prevents them from breaking into the cinema?" - said the director.
History development
On April 17, Poklonskaya sent a deputy request to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation with a negative conclusion from the examination of the film "Matilda", made by her order. "The commission concludes that the image of the canonized Russian created in the film "Matilda" Orthodox Church Russian Emperor Nicholas II cannot but offend religious feelings and humiliate human dignity a significant part of Orthodox Christians," the document says. At the same time, Poklonskaya admitted that the examination was made on the basis of reading the script of the film and watching a two-minute trailer for the film.
The Ministry of Culture stated that the department will not take this expertise into account when issuing a rental permit. Finally, on May 25, the police came with a check to the film company of Alexei Uchitel. Natalya Poklonskaya sent a request for an audit on tax crimes.
Meanwhile, Aleksey Uchitel sent two statements to the Prosecutor General's Office regarding Natalia Poklonskaya and the leadership of the Christian State - Holy Rus' organization. In the first statement, he asked "to protect the film staff, employees of distribution organizations from further threats, other illegal actions of extremist persons, as well as from the publicly disseminated slanderous fabrications of Ms. Poklonskaya herself." In the second - to check the organization for extremism.
On August 10, the film "Matilda" received a rental certificate. The picture was assigned the category "16+". The Ministry of Culture emphasized that the subjects retain the right to restrict the display of the tape on their territory.
Aggravation of the situation
On August 31, the building in St. Petersburg, where the Uchitel's film studio is located, was bombarded with bottles. And on September 4, a man rammed the facade of the Cosmos cinema in Yekaterinburg by car. State Duma deputies linked these events with the situation around Matilda and asked the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to check the opponents of the film for extremism.
On September 11, unidentified persons set fire to two cars near the office of director Konstantin Dobrynin's lawyer. Dobrynin said that leaflets with the words "Burn for Matilda" were scattered next to the burned-out cars. A day later, "Formula Kino" and "Cinema Park" announced the decision not to show the film "Matilda". The management of the united cinema chain explained this as a concern due to the threat to the safety of the audience.
Those suspected of setting fire to the cars were soon arrested and taken into custody by a court order. They turned out to be activists of the organization "Christian State - Holy Rus'" Alexander Kalinin, Alexander Bayanov and Denis Mantaluts. It later became known that Kalinin had been tried in Norilsk for murder.
After the arrest of the Orthodox activists, the Teacher called on the film networks that had previously refused to release "Matilda" to reconsider their decision. October 13 "Cinema Park" and "Formula Kino" agreed to return the film to the repertoire of their cinemas.
On the same day representatives cultural institutions Crimea reported that "Matilda" will be shown in two cinemas in Simferopol, as well as three cinemas in Sevastopol.
Reactions
"I want to congratulate you. We have a wonderful, beautiful, well-acted and well-staged film in Russia. I am not a fan of Nicholas II, but after watching the film, I began to treat him better," said Elena, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Culture Drapeko September 28 after closed screening"Matilda" within the walls of Parliament. The film was also positively assessed by a number of other deputies.The State Duma Committee on Culture issued a statement after viewing. "We especially want to emphasize that the film does not contain any materials that violate Russian legislation, including legislation aimed at protecting the morality and feelings of believers, the parliamentarians noted. “We believe that a wide theatrical distribution of the film will arouse additional interest in the pages of the history of our country.”
The situation around the film was repeatedly commented on by politicians and filmmakers.
Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov believes that extremist antics against the authors and creators of Alexei Uchitel's film "Matilda" are a reason for investigation law enforcement. Later, he said that the Kremlin sees no point in giving additional instructions to law enforcement officers in connection with the release of Matilda.
