Very simple portrait of a very complex man...
This is a 30 minute videotape that intends to give a concise overview of Pushkin's life. In this goal it fails quite miserably. I was surprised to find so many inaccuracies about Pushkin's in this documentary such as statements that Nikita Kozlov was one of Pushkin's tutors ("guvernant" in Russian) when he was in fact Pushkin's life-long serf servant.

Simple accuracy in chronology was apparently not high on the list of the writers' priorities, i.e. the narrator says that Pushkin was exiled to Caucuses then to Besarabia (present Moldavia) and then straight to Mikhailovskoe. It is very wrong as it was Besarabia first then Odessa (where he was kicked out from because he had an infamous affair with the wife of the powerful count Vorontsov who was the governor of the whole province) and only then Mikhailovskoe.

Even more ridiculous is the statement that Pushkin participated in the activities of the Decembrist secret societies. Despite the fact that he knew most of the active Decembrists (some of them were his dearest friends), Pushkin was never accepted into their societies simply because he wasn't trusted enough in such serious matters, even by his dearest friends who knew the poet's irrational and inconsistent character.

Pushkin was a very complex and fascinating individual and this film makes no attempts whatsoever to even hint at the source of his conflicts and the real inspirational forces that drove the poet, as well as real reasons and circumstances that lead to the tragic duel in 1837. This is by far the most serious omission in this small documentary - had I not known a little bit about Pushkin, I'd be most unmoved by this rather dry portrayal strangely reminiscent of the sanitized coverage of Pushkin's life by communist propaganda...

The only saving grace of this short film is some brief footage of Pushkin's houses and apartments (for that I give this whole two stars), the rest of the material an interested reader can find in any book on Pushkin and Russia in the first third of the 19th century...

Disappointing But Worth Watching
Although not as tightly, or as beautifully, constructed as the Dostoevsky tape in the Great Russian Writers series, this tape does a good job of presenting Pushkin in his historical and geographical setting. It does nothing, however, to expand the viewer's knowledge of his works or his pivotal role in the development of Russian literature. It is simply a factual (as opposed to interpretive) biography.

From the Cover:

An illuminating biography filmed where the author lived and worked.

Alexander Pushkin, poet and author, founded the literature of the Russian language with epic and lyric poems, plays, novels and short stories.

Pushkin was born on June 6, 1799 in Moscow into a noble family. In 1817 he was taken into the ministry of foreign affairs and held various official posts. He demonstrated an early gift for writing poetry, and by 1820 he published his "Ruslan and Ludmila," which earned him a reputation as one of Russia's most promising poetic talents.

He began his most famous work, "Eugene Onegin" in 1823, hailed as the first of the great Russian novels (although in verse). Dismissed from government service in 1824, he wrote "Boris Godunov," a Russian historical tragedy in the Shakespearean tradition. Pushkin continued to draw upon Russian history in his poems, novels and short stories. He provided a literary heritage for Russians, whose native language had long been considered unfit for literature. He was also a versatile writer of great vigor and optimism who understood the many facets of the Russian character.

He died Feb. 10, 1837 at only 38 years of age from wounds that he suffered in a bloody duel in St. Petersburg. Pushkin's lyric poetry and vivid prose were invaluable models for the writers who followed.

Running time: 30 Minutes Color and B&W