Now Showing: Rasputin

Rasputin
Genre: Biography/Historical
Director: Rodrigo Garcia
Cast: Johnny Depp, Vera Farmiga, Danny Huston, Rufus Sewell, Colm Feore, Nicholas Hoult
Plot: In 1910s Russia, Tsar Nicholas II (Danny Huston) and his wife Alexandra (Vera Farmiga) find their son Alexei, sole heir to the Romanov dynasty, suffering from hemophilia and the conventional medicine  failing to help him. Alexandra looks into finding holistic treatment and finds Father Grigory Rasputin (Johnny Depp), a destitute monk who claims he had a vision from the Virgin Mary telling him that the Tsar needed him. Though Nicholas and the royal doctor, Dr. Botkin (Rufus Sewell), are both skeptical of Rasputin's alleged healing abilities, young Alexei quickly bonds with the charlatan/prophet, so he remains in the Royal Court. But Rasputin's constant boozing and womanizing angers the aristocracy and worsens the already unstable tensions between Nicholas and his subjects. With the seeds of revolution brewing, it becomes increasingly apparent that a bad end awaits for the entire Royal Family. As millions of soldiers die in World War I, citizens place the blame on Alexanda and Rasputin. Prince Felix Yusupov (Nicholas Hoult) decides to murder Rasputin. He tries poisoning him, but it seems to have no effect. He then shoots Rasputin, who still does not die. Rasputin stumbles through the royal courtyard as Prince Felix and his men shoot him several more times, before he finally collapses. Alexandra reads a note left behind by Rasputin, revealing his prior knowledge that he would be murdered, and that should the murderers be nobles, the Imperial Family would die within two years. In 1917, with Russia on the verge of collapse due to the war, Nicholas is forced to abdicate as Tsar and is sent into exile with his family. The Imperial Family is executed in 1918.