Russian Riot

At the end of the eighteenth century Catherine rules Russia. An escaped convict appears on the steppes of the Urals. Yemelyan Pugachev proclaims himself the Emperor Peter the Third. Cossacks and runaway serfs gather under his banner. The revolt spreads from the grassland toward the forts. In those same days the young officer Pyotr Grinyov is stationed at a distant garrison. There he meets Masha, the daughter of the captain who commands it. The two of them fall for each other. They refuse to see the danger coming. When the revolt reaches the fort their lives are overturned. Grinyov’s path crosses that of Pugachev. Both of them work to save their lives and their feelings. The film is adapted from Pushkin’s novel The Captain’s Daughter. It also draws on the history of Pugachev that Pushkin wrote. Blood and mercy occupy the same scene. Mateusz Damięcki and Karolina Gruszka appear in the one hundred thirty minute film, a Russian and French production Aleksandr Proshkin finished in 2000.