We shouldn’t expect absolute historical accuracy from Vladimir Khotinenko’s film 1612; it was produced to be more of an action-adventure/fantasy film than an accurate protrayal of Russian history. This is why ‘the Spaniard,’ rather than say Mikhail Romanov, appears as the hero.  So, of course, we should simply enjoy 1612 for what it is, a bit of period piece fun.

However, art of any type tells us a lot about the society that produced it, and as Peter the Great constructed his new capital on the Baltic as a ‘Window on the West’, Khotinenko’s film (released in 2007) in similar fashion may serve as a portal of sorts for us to gaze back in the other direction. It helps that you know that Vladimir Putin not only loves this film but used it to help unveil a new holiday — or more precisely reinstitute an imperial holiday begun by Mikhail Romanov in 1649, which had been susperceded by the Bolsheviks to commemorate the Communist coup of 1917 in Russia: День народного единства or National Unity Day. The co-opting of holidays is nothing new — think Saturnalia…I mean Christmas — but using the film 1612 to help institute a holiday which now boasts neo-Nazi symbolism and rhetoric, and mass demonstrations calling for Russia’s return to Russians does raise some significant questions about just what is being celebrated.