Don Cossack Emelyan Pugachev says goodbye to his wife and children and goes to run. The elder Filaret blesses him to lead a rebellion under the name of Peter III of Russia. The insurgents dealt with the feudal lords cruelly. Queen Catherine the Great directs troops against the rioters. Traitors betray Emelyan, and now he is being transported across Russia in an iron cage.
Production
Soviet-era epic scale with thousands of extras.
Acting
Matveyev's wild-eyed messianic desperation.
Cinematography
Bleak, beautiful steppes that swallow hope whole.
Director
Alexey Saltykov
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Saltykov shot this during Brezhnev's stagnation era; Soviet censors surprisingly let the 'false tsar' narrative slide.
Pugachev's actual 1773-75 rebellion inspired Pushkin's 'The Captain's Daughter'—this film borrows that literary romanticism while keeping the historical blood.
SU
