The movie "Birth of an Empire" is of course about the era of Peter the Great, of course about Peter the Great, but I watched it completely differently. For me it is not really a historical film, not in the sense of course that it is not historical, that the facts get mixed up somehow, not at all. I'm fine with that. I'm talking about something else. For me it is a film about a political choice and the challenges that always face the Russian state, including the state that wants to live freely, independently, that wants to represent something really, seriously. It's about choosing to be an empire or not at all. By the way, this is a very Russian choice, because Russia can only exist as an empire, no matter what it is called, the Soviet Union or the Russian Empire, or today the Russian Federation. This is a film about the choice of what to do - to fight to find a place for yourself in the world, to take a place in the world trade routes, to start playing a special role in the vast expanses of Eurasia - or not to fight. But then you will remain on the side of history forever and be ignored by other peoples. This is a film about the choice to go to sea, which ultimately means building a fleet (this, by the way, was a national project of the era of Peter the Great) and becoming a naval power, a world player, or not going out. Even the Battle of Poltava, in general, is not only one of the episodes of the Northern War, it again creates certain references to what will happen to Russia later, in the nineteenth century, to what is happening to Russia now. And the confrontation with one of the strongest powers of the global West at the time, and the betrayal of the small Russian ally of the Hetman Mazepa. Everything is very similar. Obviously the movie wasn't made about that at all, people made a historic blockbuster. It's just that as a political commentator and the author of a book on the history of the great game, I probably look at the film a bit from my point of view. But for some reason I am convinced that even a person who is not particularly immersed in history, after watching the film, will find dozens of historical allusions.

The movie "Birth of an Empire" is of course about the era of Peter the Great, of course about Peter the Great, but I watched it completely differently. For me it is not really a historical film, not in the sense of course that it is not historical, that the facts get mixed up somehow, not at all. I'm fine with that. I'm talking about something else. For me it is a film about a political choice and the challenges that always face the Russian state, including the state that wants to live freely, independently, that wants to represent something really, seriously. It's about choosing to be an empire or not at all. By the way, this is a very Russian choice, because Russia can only exist as an empire, no matter what it is called, the Soviet Union or the Russian Empire, or today the Russian Federation. This is a film about the choice of what to do - to fight to find a place for yourself in the world, to take a place in the world trade routes, to start playing a special role in the vast expanses of Eurasia - or not to fight. But then you will remain on the side of history forever and be ignored by other peoples. This is a film about the choice to go to sea, which ultimately means building a fleet (this, by the way, was a national project of the era of Peter the Great) and becoming a naval power, a world player, or not going out. Even the Battle of Poltava, in general, is not only one of the episodes of the Northern War, it again creates certain references to what will happen to Russia later, in the nineteenth century, to what is happening to Russia now. And the confrontation with one of the strongest powers of the global West at the time, and the betrayal of the small Russian ally of the Hetman Mazepa. Everything is very similar. Obviously the movie wasn't made about that at all, people made a historic blockbuster. It's just that as a political commentator and the author of a book on the history of the great game, I probably look at the film a bit from my point of view. But for some reason I am convinced that even a person who is not particularly immersed in history, after watching the film, will find dozens of historical allusions.