The Brothers Karamazov

The Brothers Karamazov, ★★★★★
Having just read the Brothers Karamazov, I found this film to be quite rewarding. These are 12 – 45 minute episodes, I presume made for television. Spectacular is an understatement. The acting, the filming, and the scriptwriting were all superb. For the scriptwriter, reducing a lengthy novel and yet retaining the substance of the book would have been challenging and yet done flawlessly in this series. The filming is most outstanding, with the beauty of old Russia coming out with each scene. There was no hint of soap opera or cheap acting in this film, and all the actors were very convincing in their roles. Too bad they couldn’t be included in the choice for the countless Hollywood screen awards since this film would definitely win. The subtitles often had misspellings, and grammatical errors were rampant, yet it was still easy to figure out what was being said. If one loves Dostoevski, then this movie (series) is an absolute must.