Filming of the historical drama by Igor Zaitsev and Peter Zelenov "Tobol" began with a scandal: the author of the eponymous book series Alexei Ivanov, who initially took up writing the script for the film, asked to remove his name from the captions. He turned out to be categorically disagree with the edits of cinematographers, called the final script "a set of platitudes and cliches" and disclaimed any responsibility for the result. So the film received a modest postscript "based on".

It may seem that the creators of the tape really treated the plot, the personalities of the characters and the main lines very freely. Most of the plot branches were chopped off, some central characters were pushed into the shadows, and they were completely eliminated from a number of minor ones. At the same time, it is impossible to call it a frank minus: sometimes “fantasies on the subject” are self-valuable works of art (as, for example, “Anna Karenina” by Joe Wright).

According to the plot of the film, a self-taught architect (in the book “Architecton”), a respected citizen and honorable father of a large family, Semyon Remezov (Dmitry Nazarov) designs the Tobolsk Kremlin. At the same time, Siberian Governor Matvey Gagarin (Yevgeny Dyatlov) is entering a criminal conspiracy with the Chinese. He promises to convince Peter I (Dmitry Dyuzhev) in exchange for gold to help strategic partners in their war with the Dzungars. At the same time, the governor has his own interest: he wants to maintain trade relations with his neighbors (note that the real prince Gagarin plotted to create a separate kingdom in Siberia).

With this proposal, the prince goes to the king, but the head of state does not give in to persuasion - in the West, and so there is a war, and another conflict will clearly be superfluous.

A peaceful expedition consisting of young officers is sent to Tobolsk to go to Yarkand in search of gold. However, the governor decides to take advantage of the inexperience of the new guard and “sacrifice them” to the Dzungars, thus provoking a war.

The captured Swede - bayonet-junker Johan Renat (Andrei Burkovsky), who has lived in Tobolsk for many years and dreams of returning to his homeland, taking his beloved one - another man’s wife Brigitte (Agata Muceniece) - becomes a forced assistant to Gagarin.

  • © Frame from the film "Tobol" (2019)

It is worth noting that all the plot lines in the film are shown schematically. Here is Johan, he is a captured Swede. Here is Brigitte, she is German (in the book is Swedish), married to an alcoholic. They will have a romance. But the funny grumbler Semyon Remezov, he scolds his daughter, tries not to let his son go on a hike, but soon he will carry a baptismal candle on his grave. Here is his son - drummer Vanya (Pavel Tabakov). It will seem to the viewer that Vanya is one of the main characters, but Tabakov’s hero will die almost immediately.

Fans of the book “Tobol” may not like the cinematic dialogues: not one of the authors has entered the film, and those written by screenwriter Alexei Permyakov sometimes cause a feeling of awkwardness - similar to what appears when a person without a sense of humor jokes.

At the same time, there is a lot of funny about a picture that is clearly not thought of as a comedy in Tobol. This is the duet of Peter I and Catherine (the king screams a lot, walks widely, makes terrible eyes, and the tsarina tries to manipulate them), and pin-points of modern humor (the Russian officer asks the prisoner Swede: “Did something go wrong?”).

In "Tobol" there are moments that will cause questions to lovers of historical films: for example, the jungurs speak Russian without the slightest accent, and everything, from peasant girls to steppe barbarians, flaunt even white teeth.

However, you can close your eyes to this and admit that the actors fit into the role of the steppe inhabitants more than organically. The same team put on action scenes and stunts with horses - and they turned out to be very exciting.

  • © Frame from the film "Tobol" (2019)

Connoisseurs of Alexei Ivanov, or viewers who dream of seeing a historically accurate presentation of events on the screen, hardly like the Tobol, but the chances of being recognized by a wide audience are still there: there are plenty of fights, adventure and love scenarios lines, the exploitation of the theme of strong male friendship and flashed in the frame naked chest captured Germans.

The framework of the full-length film clearly did not allow the creators of the picture to fit into it everything they wanted - that is why there is a feeling that it is hastily mounted. It is obvious that much more positive impressions from Tobol will remain with the viewers of Channel One, where the tape will be released as a mini-series. And the change of format should inevitably smooth out, if not completely eradicated many plot irregularities of the full-length film.