I enjoyed it a lot! I know the program was for the common viewer who isn't an expert so I really didn't care if I didn't learn anything new. It was put together so well, music/graphics/etc.. I hope it pays off and Helen sells more copies of her book as a result.
Agreed. As a board full of fans devoted to the Romanovs we have a tendency to nitpick. There was nothing so egregiously exaggerated as to make this program detrimental, rather than beneficial, to anyone with a general understanding of Russian history.
While I can understand if some thought the tone of the documentary was harsh, especially towards Alexandra, I honestly didn't detect anything that was untrue. I know some complained part one was too much Alexandra/Alexei and not enough of the girls but when all is said and done that's pretty much how it was. The mood and actions of the whole family was determined by what was happening with Alexandra and Alexei. Yes the girls were loved but I do believe they were still window dressing even in their own family.
I think we naturally get excited when we hear about anything specifically devoted to OTMA. But I think expectations become unrealistically high as well. We keep thinking there is something more out there that will tie up all the loose ends; some yet to be uncovered treasure chest of information, a batch of hundreds of unreleased photos, video, or audio clips, etc. When you're so devoted to a particular subject it's hard to accept that there could ever be a limit on obtainable knowledge about that subject. You always want more. But in reality there probably just isn't all that more to know about four lovely yet sheltered girls who died tragically young.
I did cringe at the letters the girls wrote to Alexandra when she was going through one of her ill periods ("I'm sorry you feel #2 today..."). There are some things you can put down to the era and period but I don't think that was one of them. I'm don't doubt the girls were happy and loved their family but I personally feel they had an abnormal childhood even by royal standards of that time.
And a I think Helen and company did a good job of indicated that. The tone, as you mentioned above, was about right. Respectful admiration but not gushing praise for the girl's and their personalities/accomplishments. Sympathy for their situation but not pity. After all, for everything OTMA missed out on never having a chance (at least until the war) to explore the "real" world and ordinary folks, the did have simple, happy and mostly carefree lives prior to captivity.
The only thing that really bothered me was the portrayal of Alexei, and how they made a point of mentioning that Marie's sisters often teased her calling her "fat little bow wow". Yes they called her that, and yes she was picked on some by Olga and Tatiana when they were all very young...but why not also mentioned how adored she was. Arguably Olga's favorite sister and a soul mate for Anastasia. Didn't anyone have a bad word to say about Maria other than she might have been prone to laziness in her studies? And Alexei. Yes there were time that he probably got away with murder, but why single him out? Anastasia was every bit as naughty and the other three were known to act out from time to time. A little more balance and perspective here would have been welcome.
I also got a kick out of the English voiceover attempt at a little girl Russian accent. I remember reading a review of the Soviet film "War and Peace" from the 60s and one complaint was that the dubbed voice for Natasha sounded like Minnie Mouse and that's exactly what it sounded like here too. Obviously they sounded better in part two when the girls were older.
Ugh those were painful, and Minnie Mouse sounds about right, lol. The voices were much better however in the second part with the girl's being & sounding older.
