First let's address one point. The movie is not a reproduction of the events. It's not a documentary. It takes a lot of liberties when it comes to historical accuracy and the producers of the movie have stated that they have modified the plot to deliver a powerful message.
Second, to understand the movie you need some knowledge of Russian history of the 20th century. It was made for the Russian public for whom it's their history. Without the history you will miss a lot of nuance which the movie is filled with. For example, many outside Russia have said that the series is racist and antisemitic, and it is so purposefully because that was the society back then. There were cases of "pogroms" - mobs of antisemitic people attacking Jewish communities. Antisemitism was rampant throughout Europe and not seen as something abhorrent as the lesson of ultra-nationalism came only after WWII.
Now about the movie. After watching the series in Russian, re-watching it again and reading some reactions and articles about it I can say the movie did what it was supposed to do. Spark a conversation. Ardent socialists and communists (and I mean real socialists and communists, not social-democrats) took it as a slander piece to make Trotsky look bad by bad capitalist Russia. For westerners it seems to be hailing a bloody leader of the Russian Civil War and making a rock star out of him and here again the Russians fetishizing their Soviet past. It's neither. Hell, it's controversial series even in Russia. It shows what a revolution truly is. It's violent. It's not pretty. It's often led by fanatics and ends up costing lives, many lives. Is it worth the price? You decide. It wrestles with dilemmas about power and politics and does a good job. It doesn't give an answer and leaves you thinking. I won't deliver you what you should think of it, but it's definitely worth watching, though it asks from you some homework to do brushing up on your history of the 20th century.
P.S. It gets an 8 because it delivers a powerful message but isn't particularly accurate in the historical detail. Still, get's the job done.
31 Reviews
Surprisingly complex and very well-crafted
Evil_Herbivore10 January 2019
I'm always a bit sceptical when watching a biographical movie or series. It's easy to portray the subject as one-dimensional, either as a monster or as a saint, depending who the subject is and who is telling the story. This fear is even stronger when the story concerns a controversial figure, and Leon Trotsky, one of the leaders of the October revolution is nothing if not controversial.
So imagine my surprise when instead of the expected propaganda piece about how great Trotsky was I got a fascinating multi-faceted portray of a very complex man. This for me is the best thing about the mini-series. Trotsky is presented as a firm believer in a world-wide revolution, but that doesn't make him innocent or even good. He says he wants to save people, and yet he is willing to sacrifice anyone for the revolution. He is both ruthless and empathetic. He claims he doesn't regret anything - and seems to believe that when saying it - and yet he is quite literally haunted by the ghosts of the people his actions got killed. It's very rare that a biopic is that compelling.
This of course wouldn't be possible without the proper acting. Konstantin Khabenskiy is - as could be expected from such a talented actor - simply brilliant as Trotsky, conveying the character's complexity with ease. Everyone else does a great job as well, but Khabenskiy is clearly the star here.
Another thing that I really liked was the clever use of special effects. The scenes exploring Trotsky's emotions often present him as having vivid hallucinations, which are beautifully animated. Some transitions between scenes are among the best I've ever seen in any movie or series. The only moments when the show doesn't look splendid are the scenes showing historical sites or Trotsky's armored train, when CGI isn't the best. Luckily, these scenes are few and far between.
All in all, Trotsky is a very well-crafted piece of television. Everything from writing to acting to special effects is really good. It's a compelling story about a fascinating (if controversial) man. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys biographical or historical dramas. Or to people who are just looking for a solid tv series.
So imagine my surprise when instead of the expected propaganda piece about how great Trotsky was I got a fascinating multi-faceted portray of a very complex man. This for me is the best thing about the mini-series. Trotsky is presented as a firm believer in a world-wide revolution, but that doesn't make him innocent or even good. He says he wants to save people, and yet he is willing to sacrifice anyone for the revolution. He is both ruthless and empathetic. He claims he doesn't regret anything - and seems to believe that when saying it - and yet he is quite literally haunted by the ghosts of the people his actions got killed. It's very rare that a biopic is that compelling.
This of course wouldn't be possible without the proper acting. Konstantin Khabenskiy is - as could be expected from such a talented actor - simply brilliant as Trotsky, conveying the character's complexity with ease. Everyone else does a great job as well, but Khabenskiy is clearly the star here.
Another thing that I really liked was the clever use of special effects. The scenes exploring Trotsky's emotions often present him as having vivid hallucinations, which are beautifully animated. Some transitions between scenes are among the best I've ever seen in any movie or series. The only moments when the show doesn't look splendid are the scenes showing historical sites or Trotsky's armored train, when CGI isn't the best. Luckily, these scenes are few and far between.
All in all, Trotsky is a very well-crafted piece of television. Everything from writing to acting to special effects is really good. It's a compelling story about a fascinating (if controversial) man. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys biographical or historical dramas. Or to people who are just looking for a solid tv series.
Some historical divergences, very entertaining
pprgauthier24 January 2019
Great series, great actors. Im a French Canadian so I only speak French and English, I listened to this on Netflix in Russian with French subtitles and loved it. There are some divergences from reality (I wont say to keep this spoiler free, but other viewers have reported somes here in other reviews if you would like to see) and its more of a sensational series that a documentary (think the recent Spartacus iteration on Starz, I think) but I had loads of fun watching it and learned some things on the life of this fascinating and polarizing historical figure. Just make sure to fact-check afterwards. For mature audience, as there violence, nudity, sex scenes and some very hard-to-watch antisemitic scenes (as that was the reality of this era).
A bold statement
Andeddu28 December 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Trotsky was very well done. As was already mentioned, it was not intended to serve as a documentary, but to show the deep struggle of the man who would be viewed by many as the intellectual diving force behind the Bolshevik revolution. You could feel the strength of Trotsky as he sacrificed both his humanity and literally everything dear to him for his ideology. You could also feel the cold calculating presence of Stalin, as it gave the briefest view of what would be a decade of moves and counter moves between him and Trotsky. The film correctly portrays how Lenin and Trotsky underestimated koba, and how it lead to the downfall of both men. One should watch it with the intent to further study the points that it made. Doing so will fill in the gaps of the deeply complicated time of the Bolshevik revolution, the Russian Civil War and the early days of the Soviet Union, that the series was not able to fully explain. I was most impressed with this series.
REAL IMAGE
Saterius16 March 2020
Portrays the way of Trotsky from naive idealist to the bloody tyrant. It is very deep series, which could not be understand by those who are fulfilled by some sort of ideology, but only by those who know that our world is very complex and complicated.
As the Pole, by the nature very critical of both white tsarist and red communist Russia, I must admit that these series are quite objective, impartial and fair.
Only one thing strikes me - series completely omitted the important fact, i.e. who and where stopped the world revolution. But this is understandable.
As the Pole, by the nature very critical of both white tsarist and red communist Russia, I must admit that these series are quite objective, impartial and fair.
Only one thing strikes me - series completely omitted the important fact, i.e. who and where stopped the world revolution. But this is understandable.
Dramatic lesson for us all
mdimock2 January 2019
We live in a time of turmoil that could become more violent and destructive if we fail to learn from human history. This dramatized and often inaccurate version of historical events surrounding the Russian Revolution drives an important point home: violent revolutions are extremely destructive and risky. They unleash the darkest drives within people and allow sociopaths to take the reigns. The production (including the script, dialogue, acting, effects, sets, titles with historical detail on characters) is excellent. I was pulled in by the drama and was not let down. As a student of history who studied the Russian Revolution in grad school, I was aware of important distortions, but dramatic films are statements, not histories. This statement is well made. I am intrigued by the potential impact in Russian society today, where a dictator is willing to lie and kill to maintain power. Is this a statement about Russia today? Is it a statement to the world as the nativist, repressive and violent tendencies of governments are on the rise? Is it about the Russian past, an effort to remind the Russian people about what went down and what might happen again? Perhaps it is all these things. No matter it is a well done series, well worth watching.
A highly inaccurate piece of propaganda
LadyMalkavian29 March 2019
It is often entertaining and has high production values. But it fails completely as a historical series. It's willfully inaccurate.
Being produced by Russian state tv it comes with a message that an authoritarian regime is best left alone, what takes its place can only be worse.
A must see for those who like Russian history
gettysburgrich5 January 2019
While no one can know the exact history behind the walls of the revolution. I found this series mesmerizing. I love all history and sometimes it's nice to put it into historical fiction. You can only watch so many documentaries. Try it out. Rich
Comic book representation of history
easthandsomebrook9 January 2019
Trotsky in all leather? Come on! I expect some departures from the truth for dramatic effect, but there are so many distortions and made up history as well as made up motivation, it could have been written by Donald Trump. Why divert from the historical record, which, if told fairly straight, is truly compelling storytelling?
Entertaining if historically inaccurate
Andy-29616 January 2019
The best thing about this flashy Russian miniseries is that is quite entertaining for most of its running time (it bogs down a little in the middle episodes). Not only it has lots of sex, but also Trotsky travelling around in a steampunk like train, hallucinations, bizarre dream sequences and even Matrix style gunfights. Clearly, the dour Russian cinema of Soviet times is long past.
The bad thing is that is quite inaccurate historically and downright invents a lot of stuff: for example, the central conceit of the series is the absurdity of Trotsky in 1940 telling the history of his life to his would be murderer, Frank Jackson (the alias of Ramon Mercader). Another absurdity - there are many - is an encounter between Trotsky and Freud in which the latter diagnoses fanaticism in the former.
On the plus side, the narrative structure is complex, with the story going back from the Russian revolution to Trotsky's youth to his exile in Mexico in 1940. We have many characters in the movie (including some real but obscure persons), and the plot at times is quite complex. The filmmakers obviously read a lot of history before doing this (even if they then distort it).
Trotskyists will complain about the portrayal of Trotsky, but I find it a compelling character, much more than Lenin (who is shown as a scheming opportunist) and Stalin (who is shown as an uneducated thug).
The bad thing is that is quite inaccurate historically and downright invents a lot of stuff: for example, the central conceit of the series is the absurdity of Trotsky in 1940 telling the history of his life to his would be murderer, Frank Jackson (the alias of Ramon Mercader). Another absurdity - there are many - is an encounter between Trotsky and Freud in which the latter diagnoses fanaticism in the former.
On the plus side, the narrative structure is complex, with the story going back from the Russian revolution to Trotsky's youth to his exile in Mexico in 1940. We have many characters in the movie (including some real but obscure persons), and the plot at times is quite complex. The filmmakers obviously read a lot of history before doing this (even if they then distort it).
Trotskyists will complain about the portrayal of Trotsky, but I find it a compelling character, much more than Lenin (who is shown as a scheming opportunist) and Stalin (who is shown as an uneducated thug).
Trotsky brilliant
jackjordano18 December 2018
Quality miniseries. Very welldone.
kennprop21 December 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Is it accurate? Is it historic fact? Was Trotsky a devoted revolutionary or just a power seeker using Communism dogma to seize personal power? I have no idea,but this warrants further research. He was Stalins mortal enemy, and that is the truth. One wonders what drivers act on these leaders like Stalin,Lenin, Hitler, Trump. Do they care anything about the populations they rule over? Probably not. The little people are really just pawns in a power struggle.
The key events in the twentieth century were WW1, the aftermath of that, Russias Revolution, and this story works off that. It is very well acted, excellent cast, some excellent dialogue. Many of the key figures in the Revolution were Jews and they acted because they were hugely abused by the Tsarist govt. They were used as scapegoats for many national problems .The state religion, Russian Orthodoxy ,was a part of the govt. and the tsar was the head of the church. Trotsky came from a jewish family but was an atheist,of course. This is a very complicated subject to study as the political machinations of the period are very intricate. This miniseries spurred my interest to go into a deeper study of this period.
Hedious
nikosdouras14 February 2019
Gives Hints on Internal Russian Propaganda
johnp-3671814 March 2019
I appreciated the reviews of this movie by dorin-93538 and Evil-Herbivore and agree with most of their comments. I would like to add my speculation as to the Russian government's motivation for financing and applauding this series.
Stalin still has significant support in today's Russia. Some of it may of it may be nostalgia for the days when things were simple and stable on the surface even if daily life was impoverished and there were a lot of things that couldn't be safely talked about. There may also be conscious political support for increased authoritarianism by Putin's government.
The Trotsky series supports rehabilitation of Stalin by making him appear a competent bureaucrat and Trotsky a wild and crazy fanatic who, at the end of his life, partially repents his deeds. In the West, Stalin rather than Trotsky is usually viewed as the bad guy.
Stalin still has significant support in today's Russia. Some of it may of it may be nostalgia for the days when things were simple and stable on the surface even if daily life was impoverished and there were a lot of things that couldn't be safely talked about. There may also be conscious political support for increased authoritarianism by Putin's government.
The Trotsky series supports rehabilitation of Stalin by making him appear a competent bureaucrat and Trotsky a wild and crazy fanatic who, at the end of his life, partially repents his deeds. In the West, Stalin rather than Trotsky is usually viewed as the bad guy.
Oh well back to the Solzhenitsyn
NukeHollywood8 April 2019
I began watching hoping to learn something about what Trotsky was all about, not that I expected great historical accuracy.
But the cheap dialogue and gratuitous sex three minutes in told me what kind of sub-standard thrill flick awaited. I also skimmed through other scenes to check.
Suggestion: Avoid.
But the cheap dialogue and gratuitous sex three minutes in told me what kind of sub-standard thrill flick awaited. I also skimmed through other scenes to check.
Suggestion: Avoid.
Yea NefFlix
bshaef-3422921 July 2019
I learned more about 20th century Russia from this series than any book or newspaper I ever read. The one thing that kept going through my brain from episode 6 forward, is that the Big 3 in Russia were Trotsky, Lenin and Stalin while the big 3 at the beginning of America were Washington, Jefferson and Franklin. 'Nuff said. The longer I watched this the more it struck me how fortunate that I'm an American. No matter how smart and learned and philosophical and technically brilliant the Russians were, or are, they are a country bound to fail until they develop democratic institutions. Thank you Netflix, I learned several great lessons watching this.
Part of me wishes this were more of a documentary.
gprusakowski9 January 2019
I agree with the other comments wrt it's dramatic value and historically dubious facts but as soon as I started watching it I knew Much was missing and went to refresh my memory on the history and facts surrounding Trotsky's life. It's a good production with great acting that keeps true to the major facts, a good intro for most people. And if the fill in some of the gaps with some more historical information they will enjoy the program even more. I hope it spurs them to read more on the topic the Russian revolution and it's main characters because it is so interesting and filled with deceit, violence and terror. It couldn't be captured in one series or a couple of seasons of episodes.
Excellent
labound-1574613 January 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Most including myself always thought of Lenin as the author of the 2nd Russian revolution. In fact Lenin and them including Trotsky were ALL living abroad at the time of the 1rst Russian revolution led by Kerensky that overthrew the Tsar that revolution in turn later overthrown by Trotsky not Lenin who was in hiding at the time.
Either way Trotsky not only overthrew Kerensky but founded and led the Red army during the civil war with the Whites. And it was Trotsky not Stalin who was the author and founder of the red terror that killed millions and concentration camps . He was no prince charming that's for sure, worth the watch though no doubt
Either way Trotsky not only overthrew Kerensky but founded and led the Red army during the civil war with the Whites. And it was Trotsky not Stalin who was the author and founder of the red terror that killed millions and concentration camps . He was no prince charming that's for sure, worth the watch though no doubt
Production
luisgomezproduccion1 February 2021
I remind you that the Russian company PP Productions by Pavel Puntus and Ilya Farfel 4 years ago came to film the Trotsky mini series for Netflix in Mexico. He partnered with Erik Ceballos' Mexican production company Desde México Films.
They left Mexico with a debt of $ 100,000 USD.
Alex Nasonau was part of that production.
They never paid.
Be careful with those guys.
They left Mexico with a debt of $ 100,000 USD.
Alex Nasonau was part of that production.
They never paid.
Be careful with those guys.
Must see
gabrielsartori27 November 2019
gah
NeonRainSurfing6 March 2020
Excellent miniseries
grandcyn6 January 2019
The performances are superb! the makeup and costumes and settings are also excellent and add to the feeling we are watching a period of history; the only problem, for American and perhaps other non-Russian speakers is that the subheads are white on white and too small and pass too quickly; we had to keep going back to see what we had missed; we theorize that perhaps this why the general rating was only 6.9
Lev
alirzajafar1 July 2019
Black Propaganda - Untrue History
GeorgeTaylorG18 May 2020
Excellent Piece of Fiction
moveebuff195314 September 2019
Loved this series for the acting, cinematography, and entertainment in general. That being said, it is so obviously a slanted portrayal of the actual historical events. Pure Russian propaganda. For truth and facts this is not where you will find them.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
