It is refreshing to find a movie which does not take children audience for granted. I discovered as an adult by sheer luck this movie and went through it wishing they had completed the second part (which they did not alas). It is set in the Russian equivalent of our pagan Dark Ages just before Aethelbehrt of Kent marrying Bertha of Frankia. And we have invaders, different faiths opposing each other and the opening of Russia to other realms- Here the Byzantine world, as opposed to the Late Roman/early middle age European rewriting of borders. Clearly our hero Vladimir is imperfect and well, he does kill his brother (but Disney got away with murder see Malefice and the evil queen in SnowWhite right?. I think it would be unfair on the movie to expect a politically correct story because well our ancestors were not, and did things our times does not judge right to do. yet rewriting historical facts is wrong and this movie has done the best it could to still bring a story for children, while making history appetising and wholesome for children. The nice pagan priest is rewarded, the evil pagan priest is punished, the prince improves and opens up to the world. there are numerous positive messages. I have read that the movie was unfair to other religions? which is odd because in this movie, we see different forms of paganism and the only Christians are the Byzantines??? plus by the way at one point this man great grand children will marry Harold Goodwinson's daughter while another will become the ancestress to the French royal family! Rather than blame the story, it is a movie where as a parent you can make the dark ages alive and explain so much to your children and I do not speak one word of Russian. Enjoy and if only we had more movies like this delightful one.
Review of Knyaz Vladimir. Film pervyy
