Archangel (2005, United Kingdom)
political mysterycontroversial theories
Running time: 125 minutes
Language: English / Russian
Locations: the story takes place in MoscowMoscowRussia
During an international conference in Moscow, British historian Dr. Christopher Kelso, who used to study in Russia, is approached after his lecture by some old Russian. Kelso did not put much attention to the old man, since many members of the Aurora organization were protesting against Kelso and other foreigners that they were trying to slander Stalin and the communist past. But when the same old man approaches Kelso later in his hotel and says that he wants to share a secret with him, things begin to look differently. Papu Rapava tells Kelso the story he remembered from times he worked as a guard in Kuntsevo Dacha, where Stalin died in 1953. Rapava was a witness of Lavrentiy Beria stealing a key of the dying Stalin and later burying some old notebook nearby. Kelso was not convinced of the veracity of that story, since Beria was known for killing all the witnesses that could put him in trouble, so he went to a former KGB agent, Mamantov, to verify the facts. Soon after, Kelso finds Rapava’s daughter, Zinaida, hoping she can contact him with her father, but when he arrives at Rapava’s home the old man is dead.
British mystery thriller based on a Richard Harris novel. Set in Moscow during the transformation of the country in the 1990s, Archangel is a mixture of conspiracy theory, spy story with some action scenes thrown in. While the main story is rather interesting, the whole film was made in perhaps not the best possible way - there are some scenes that make no real difference to the story, they only make the film longer without adding anything to the quality. The mystery itself becomes quite obvious rather quickly, which makes the hole production rather disappointing.
Do you have what it takes to solve a case like this?
Our rating |
6 / 10 |
Movie value |
6 / 10 |
Realism factor |
2 / 5 |
Adventure factor |
4 / 5 |
Story complexity |
3 / 5 |
57 |
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Creators of Archangel
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Cast of Archangel
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as Zinaida Rapava | |
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as Dr. Christopher Kelso | |
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as RJ O’Brien | |
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as Joseph | |
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as Mamantov | |
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as Suvorin |
Archangel quotes
Suvorin: Mr Kelso... I’m totally sick of people like you throwing past in our faces. And I’m sick of people like Mamontov trying to make Gods out of monsters.
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