The Russia We Lost

The Russia We Lost () is a 1992 Russian documentary film directed and narrated by Stanislav Govorukhin, dedicated to pre-revolutionary Russia.Birgit Beumers, Directory of World Cinema: Russia, Intellect Books, 2010, p. 307

Govorukhin worked on the film for a long period, spending much of his time in archives, libraries, and film depositories. In 1991, Stanislav Govorukhin published a book which he called The Russia...we Lost (Россия… Которую мы потеряли), which formed the basis of the script of this film.

Synopsis The film contains a large amount of factual information: photos, documents, and newsreels. However, Govorukhin's work is not limited to a statement of facts, but offers his worldview. Standing on the positions of anti-communism, the director largely idealizes tsarist Russia and criticizes Maxim Gorky. Much attention is paid to the personalities of Stolypin, Lenin, and Nicholas II.

Perception The film had a strong public responseВасилий Галин. Капитал Российской империи: практика политической экономии. Algoritm, 2015 and played a significant role in breaking the mass consciousness of the Soviet people in the early 1990s.В. В. Фортунатов "Российская история в афоризмах". Издательский дом "Питер", 2010, стр. 185 The phrase "the Russia we have lost" has become a household term for pre-revolutionary Russia,Почти столетие эти рукописи облетали весь мир, чтобы однажды в Челябинске превратиться в книгу // «Южноуральская панорама», 9 августа 2013 but is also used as a mockery of the idealization of pre-revolutionary Russia - Especially in internet memes with the title of the film serving as a caption for unglamorous photographs of serfdom and poverty taken during the Tsarist era, as well as more humorous ones with the title serving as a caption for images depicting dinosaurs in the prehistoric age.

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