Rating: 
Summary: History as Drama
Review: The unadulturated history of the Russian monarchy has produced more compelling drama than anything Hollywood could produce in its wildest flights: Ivan the Terrible's descent into madness; Peter the Great's violent childhood and adult retributions as the backdrop for supreme political accomplishments; Catherine the Great's seizure of a throne from a madman and her emergence as the dominant monarch of her age; Alexander I's defeat of Napoleon and likely faking of his death to live out his life as a religious hermit; Alexander II's death at the hands of terrorists. And the curtain drops on the Russian monarchy much as the play ran -- in pools of blood. The main difference in the Nicholas and Alexandra saga is that their predecessors created their own dramas. Nicholas and Alexandra succumbed to the drama of events swirling around them.
This movie is inaccurate in many details. For instance, the real Dowager Empress visited her son on his train only after his abdication, not in the weeks before the monarchy fell. Anna Vyrobuva, a signficant and unwittingly sinister player in the Rasputin debacle, is missing. And the loyalty to the Tsar professed by the other Romanovs in the movie glosses over the fact that there were serious family discussions about a coup to send Alexandra into exile and maybe even to remove Nicholas himself.
But these are nits. In a larger sense the movie compellingly captures the essence of the two fundamental issues that combined to bring the Romanov dynasty crashing down. The first had to do with Nicholas. He was a kind, gentle family man much more suited to the life of a country gentleman. When called upon to exercise real power to influence complex events, he fell into a pattern of posturing, denial, and a passive belief that he could just go with his reactionary biases instead of with disciplined examination of reality. After all, God had made him emperor, and therefore it must be God's will that he felt and decided as he did.
The other issue had to do with Alexandra. A shy, high-strung woman who was equipped neither by temperament, intellect, nor upbringing to ride herd on a decadent court or fractious nest of in-laws, she inclined to a mystical view of religion and monarchy that could rise almost to hysteria. It would have been a volatile situation in the best of circumstances. But Alexandra got dealt a very bad hand. Russia was opening up culturally and intellectually and looking to unshackle itself from unthinking political and religious orthodoxy. And she was failing in her principle purpose -- to produce a male heir to the greatest throne on earth. Nearing menopause after bearing four daughters, she finally bore a son, only to find him cursed by the hoemophila that ran through her relations. She had offended God, and she had to know why.
Alexandra responded with a downward spiral into an increasingly bizarre mysticism that further clouded her husband's foggy view of his world and his role -- and that ultimately opened the door to perhaps the most bizarre case of malign political influence in the annals of government: Rasputin.
While botching a detail here and there, the movie does a marvelous job of accurately portraying the salient aspects of how these things ate away at Nicholas' real power to replace it with a mushrooming fantasy of power as he, and Alexandra even moreso, perceived it. Although ruling one-sixth of the world's land surface, the couple's world view finally came to extend no further than the small circle of their tight-knit immediate family and their gilded enclave at Tsarskoye Selo.
When the revolution came -- as Nicholas's fatalism and the insane yielding to Rasputin's interference in government made inevitable -- Nicholas actually entered a few months of calm that on some level were the most peaceful of his life. Power scared and exhausted him. The shackles of jailers were light compared to those of a throne.
The fact that the revolution that deepened his country's enslavement actually freed Nicholas from those things he most abhorred illustrate just how far the Romanov dynasty had come to odds with the very purpose of its existence. In the end, Nicholas and Alexandra showed a grace and sanguinity in captivity and extermination that was utterly absent when they ruled the world's largest country. No scriptwriter could improve on this script, and the great art of this movie is that none tried.
Rating:
Summary: If you love history...you' ll love this movie!
Review: This has got to be one of the best films based on events of history ever made, and it is so well made. It is lavish in it's locations, settings, costuming and detail. You will despise the opulent, decadent and self-centered lives of Czar Nicholas and the Czarina...but, by the time the movie ends you will be disturbed by their deaths, and feel a certain sympathy that such a tragic thing could happen. It is not a short movie, but although it is long...it will not bore you. You will stay with it to the end. I did, and I will again. This is cinema worth watching!
Rating:
Summary: great film....even though it isnt all acurate
Review: this is a good film. the best thing is that it is a real movie...not a documentary. micheal jayston does a great job playing the tzar and jannet suzman does a great job playing the tzarina. the movie pretty much follows the book "nicholas and alexandra" written by robert k. massie (great book). their are some historical flaws. a main one is: the family was executed with 4 servants, not just 1. it is a good movie though, especcially if you are intrested in the romanovs, its good even if you arent too. oh but the bad thing about the dvd edition is that their arnt any bonus'! but i gave the dvd 5 stars anyways just because its an overall good movie.
Rating:
Summary: Just wouldn't die
Review: This is an excellent movie starring my favorite actor, Tom Baker, as Rasputin. Baker is also an excellent Marsh Wiggle and the 4th Doctor of Dr. Who.
Rating: 
Summary: Perhaps a mini-series might have been better?...
Review: This is indeed a lavishly produced film. Nicely captured was the opulent life of the upper class, a stark contrast to what the Tsar's family was reduced to towards the end. Nevertheless for people familiar with the history of the last tsar, one would be bothered by the amount of details and facts left untold. Also the editing for this movie is somewhat choppy. "Nicholas and Alexandra" is great as an introduction for those new to the Romanov saga (Robert K. Massie's book of the same name, which this movie is based on, is a must-read). For those in the know, however, the movie may come up short, despite its length.
Rating: 
Summary: Atmospheric, brilliant supporting cast
Review: This is one of the more historically accurate period dramas I can remember seeing. Beautifully shot, in a style remniscent of Doctor Zhivago, giving the sense of the politial tension and social hardships of the day. A bit long, but necessarily so. The complexities deserve attention. Must mention Tom Baker's hypnotic turn as Rasputin. When he's on the screen one can't look at anyone else. Highly recommended if you're looking for something a bit more challenging than Shakespeare In Love.
Rating:
Summary: Good movie, but what's with the accents?
Review: This movie offers an intriquing look into the lives of two of history's most tragic figures and is quite historically accurate. However it is quite distracting that all of the actors have British accents. Last time I checked people in Russia have Russian accents. While this is only a minor problem, it often distracts from the compelling story. Still, this film is interesting and historically correct and quite good. It would be better, though, if the actors actually spoke with Russian accents.
Rating:
Summary: At Long Last
Review: When i first saw this movie in 1971 I fell in love with it immediately. I then read the book. In 1983 I purchased a VHS edition which unfortunately had been cut by 24 minutes. Then in 1985 I visited Moscow. St Petersburg and Kiev. Now on DVD the movie has been restored to it's full theatrical widescreen version of 189 mins and how glorious it is to watch and listen to in dolby 5.1 surround.....A masterpiece
Rating:
Summary: The Turning Tide
Review: When I was a teenager I read a lot of novels & afterwards when I saw a Hollywood movie version of the same books, I was normally disappointed. Why were some of the greatest scenes & dialog missing? The movie "Nicholas & Alexandria" is a "Turning Tide" for many reasons...I saw the movie before reading the book by Robert K. Massie that it was based on, & thought the movie was great. The characters were very real, they where acted by professional Shakespeare & theater actors rather than the standard "Mega Personality" which always gets in the way of historical dramas. The scenes looked "Real" enough, photographed in Spain rather than Russia, but second thought, maybe I don't know what Russia "Should" look like. I was once trapped in the Moscow airport on my way to Kiev Ukraine, but at least I saw some Slavic lands. Returning to the film after a few years I was surprised to figure out that Rasputin was played by Tom Baker, the fourth Dr. Who, who indeed was a Benedict monk in his early 20's. Then I read the book by Robert K. Massie & a few history books... Everything fell a part; the best parts of history were missing or rearranged. Specially Rasputin's death; there was no dancing transvestite at Prince Yusupov's cellar, & Rusputin didn't crawl away from the room, but ran shouting "I will tell the Queen Alexandria on you" with the Prince firing several shots before hitting him. The Prince's friends did not hit Rusputin's body with chains after he was down, but the body was tied with ropes & lowered into an iced river. Believe it or not, Rusputin died from drowning rather than the poison & bullets. The shooting of the Tsar's family had more servants in the firing line & was more gruesome; several people survived the first volley & were chased around with bayonets. Prince Alexis was the last to die with two bullets in the head from a reloaded pistol. Several other bizarre yet important events that would of made great scenes are totally missing from the movie... Yet somehow the movie did "Flow" & if you wanted a historical drama rather than a movie it would last way too long like a Wagner opera. Reading some other reviews, the Tsar's family did speak mostly English, & both Nicholas & Alexandria had English & German relatives. Tsar Nicholas couldn't believe that "Cousin Willie" the German Kaiser, was going to war against him, & Alexandria was a carrier of hemophilia from Queen Victoria's blood line. Therefore to watch an enjoyable yet a historical wash over of the "Turning Tide" of Russia, this DVD will not let you down. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: a classic
Review: While it is true that the film does not stick precisely to the real story ( there are some vitals left out), the overall feeling of the times, and the lives of these misguided and imperious people is very well done. As far as the reviewer from Ohio goes, well, Alexandra was not brought up. exactly, IN England, but she visited her grandmother Victoria for all holidays, and it was Victoria who oversaw her education, plus she was raised by an English nanny, Mary Anne Orchard. As Alix said herself, the German language was her the language of her homeland, but the English language was her birthright. She spoke both well, was awkward in French and Russian, and the whole Russian family spoke English in their private home life, in deference to her. Naturally, she spoke Russian with a strong English accent, and any European who learned English spoke with an English accent, as Nicholas did.
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