Film Review; Anastasia

Now I know you’re in high school and most likely don’t watch princess cartoons often, but this is definitely worth watching. Many people are familiar with the name Anastasia, they most likely know it from the 20th Century Fox production. Few realize that this marvelous tale of a Russian Duchess trying to find her way to Paris is based on real life events.

In 1917, the Russian Revolution took place. Anastasia’s father, Nicholas Romanov II, was in power at the time. The Bolshevik were a Social-Democratic Workers’ Party who seized control of the government in Russia, and they did in real life, murder the Romanovs in the Romanov Massacre in October of 1917. Anastasia’s body wasn’t found and people had a theory that she was still alive. Some girls of the same age and similar appearances as Anastasia tried to impersonate her. One girl really stood out due to the fact that she didn’t have any recollection of where she came from because she just woke up from a coma and claimed to be Anastasia. This girl led to the creation of the movie Anastasia. But Anastasia’s bones were just recently found in 2007 nowhere near where her family was murdered.

The 20th Century Fox production of Anastasia is more educational and far better done than most children’s movies nowadays. Anastasia has some valid historical plots. Anastasia’s family was actually killed and people thought she had escaped because her bones were found only recently found miles away for where her family had been murdered by the Bolsheviks. The character in the movie “Rasputin” was actually a holy man with no medical qualifications yet served as a physician to the family and became close to the family, which led people to believe that he tried seducing the Romanov girls. Also, in the movie there was a girl named Anna impersonating a duchess named Anastasia that later found out she really was the Duchess. But in real life a girl was found at the hospital with the name Anna Anderson and no memory of her past, so naturally people began to believe that this was the Russia Duchess whose bones were not discovered yet. There were also other impersonators even after people thought this Anna Anderson girl was Anastasia, but the DNA on the bones found in 2007 obviously revealed that Anastasia was murdered.

The building action was noticeably interesting compared to more recent Disney movies such as the movie Frozen. People may consider Frozen a movie with a family based plot, but it doesn’t even begin to accurately portray the meaning of family like Anastasia does. The plot of Frozen was all about “finding true love” and somewhat shows the relationship between the sisters, Anna and Elsa. But Anastasia’s family was murdered and that’s based on real life events. It depicts an actual event that can be researched and it’s fascinating and unforgettable. Disney Princess movies nowadays have the most cliché plots that are utterly obnoxious. This movie was far better suited for kids than most movies and is also ideal for anyone who wants to watch a movie that is not like the rest. Sure, this movie does have a little romance, but it’s more towards the end and doesn’t inhibit the plot. It doesn’t give young girls the mindset that the meaning of life is love, like basically every Disney movie or show. It doesn’t give viewers the unrealistic expectation that a Prince is going to search the whole kingdom and village to find a girl who can fit into a shoe, or travel to tower and save her life from a curse and dragon. Watching Anastasia, makes viewers want to know more about the Romanov Massacre which actually happened, not something that will never happen.

So for viewers looking for a unique and well done movie to watch, Anastasia the one to watch.

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Katherine Johnson

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