History made easy!

King's Man (2021)
Story and Direction: Matthew Vaughn

I am so happy that the history lessons I was exposed to in childhood were varied. Thanks to the old Malaysian syllabus, the people of my generation are exposed to the likes of Rasputin, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the events leading to World War 1.

At least I know the storytellers stretched their artistic licence too far to convince the viewers that a single organisation headed by 'The Shepherd' singlehandedly masterminded the genesis of WW1 and the collapse of the Romanov dynasty in Russia. Interestingly, Rasputin is portrayed as a member of this cult and works in cahoots with 'The Shepherd' and receives orders from him. 

Even Gavrilo Princip, Archduke Ferdinand's assassin, is said to be in the above group. In reality, we know he did not act alone but as a member of a secret society called 'Black Hand'. True, the first assassination attempt failed, but the fatal shooting was by sheer coincidence.

Rasputin -The Mad Monk

Rasputin is visualised here as I remember him from my textbooks - A tall, scrawny man with bad teeth, piercing eyes, and a bevvy of women trailing in his shadows. If my memory does not fail me, the Russian prince suffered from haemophilia. Rasputin garnered the monarch's admiration after treating the haemorrhaging prince following a bad fall, not after poisoning him. 

Margaretha MacLeod nee Zelle
aka Mata Hari

I know the 'Mata Hari' was a Dutch spy accused of working for the Nazis. I never heard of her landing in the USA, and having a secret film recording of her in a compromising position with Woodrow Wilson prevented the USA from entering WW1. It was the gunning of the ocean liner RMS 'Lusitania' by German U-boats. Of course, some say it carried weapons and ammunition to the Allied Forces.

History is made easy here. It seems that The Shephard and his Flock. Vladimir Lenin and even a young Hitler are portrayed to have their beginnings in this movement. In essence, one hand controls the world's direction.

Despite being the third in its series, this film is actually a prequel to its predecessors. It shows how this clandestine movement started with a pacifist, Orlando, the Duke of Oxford, losing his wife during Boer War. Orlando's son, Conrad, watches the whole drama and grows up to want to fight evil.

After Conrad dies, the movement goes gangbusters to get to the root of world problems. The invincible Shephard is located and is neutralised.

An enjoyable watch, only for its cross-reference to world history events.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Ra, Ra, Rasputin, lover of the Russian Queen!

Rasputin- A short life (2014)
Frances Welch

After reading this book, all I thought of was my history teacher, Mr LKK. Even today, I can still remember his theatrical antics and his story-telling techniques as how he tried to impress upon us the events that happened in the annals of history.

Why I am saying this? Whatever Mr LKK taught us when he was covering Russian Revolution and Rasputin is clearly illustrated in the small book, the twisted preacher that he was; the mysticism that surrounded his prophecies; the devious ways that were employed to assassinate him as he was almost invincible and his scandalous affairs including the one involving the Tsarina.

Grigory Rasputin must surely mark the beginning of the end of the Imperial family in Russia. The mysterious peasant man from Siberia who proclaimed to be a Man-of-God but with questionable personal hygiene, moral conduct and penchant for all the very activities that were frowned upon by the Good Book, must have not down well with the starving subjects of Russia. His mysterious powers and his entry into the Royal household must have created ire on their part. His activity to wrap the Tsarina around his finger who in turn could manipulate the actions of the monarch was a sore point with the people.

The manner Rasputin managed to wriggle himself through the love of a mother to her haemophiliac son. Rasputin provided comfort that none from the medical profession could give.

He created enemies within the Russian Duma and the Orthodox Church for his outrageous behaviour. It finally took three men to put a stop to his nefarious actions - Felix Youssopov, a member of the Imperial Family; Dr Stanilaus Lazovert, an army doctor and Vladimir Purishkevich of the Duma. As the legend goes, Rasputin was no easy person to die. He was poisoned with cyanide, shot at, beaten up, thrown from a bridge and finally drowned in the river. It is said that he may have outlived all the attempts on his life. There was even a controversy that post-mortem may have shown water in the lungs, hence the cause of death may have been drowning (i.e. he defied all previous attempt at his life). Certain quarters claim that the postmortem report may have been altered in view for Rasputin to be canonised. Legend says that a Man-of-God would have perished in water! His grave was relocated thrice to thwart unnecessary attention and finally was just cremated by the roadside when his car broke down. Urban legend says that he 'moved' in his funeral pyre! Of course, it must have been just contractions of tendons in the heat.

He may have foreseen attempts on his life and had apparently prophesied that Imperial Russia would perish if Russians would kill him. Sure enough, the Romonav Dynasty collapsed, the Red Revolution changed the landscape of Mother Russia and Russia was never the same again. Even the lead singer of Boney M, who mocked him via his hit song, died on the same day as Rasputin (corrected for the differences between Russian and Gregorian calendar), of all places, in St Petersburg! (just like Rasputin).