Review of The Last Station (2009) by Panta O — 06 May 2010

Michael Hoffman poetic and love struck story of the Leo Tolstoy's final year of life (1910) and his household roller coaster of emotion is a movie all of us should see!

Tolstoy's novels, "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina," had made him the most famous writer of his day in the world, but inside their home, another story, of his wife, Sofya, trying to prevent him from signing the copyrights to his works over to his peace movement, the Tolstoyans, which he had founded with the support of close friend Vladimir Chertkov, is consyming everyone involved... even the cinema audience...

A movie about love, control, ideals, greed - brought to life by a cast that makes the fire and passion and sadness very real.

Helen Mirren, as a woman with passion, after 48 years of marriage and 13 children, 8 of whom survived, feels she is being shunted aside for a movement she thinks is a fairy tale. The passive resistance and abandonment of property rights that Tolstoy (real star performance by Christopher Plummer) has adopted is something she would not allow when her property is on the agenda. She despises the "parasite" Chertkov (Paul Giamatti), who, she thinks, has flattered and cajoled Tolstoy into his way of thinking. In the middle of those accusations, Chertkov sends Valentin Bulgakov (James McAvoy), young honest believer in Tolstoy's vallues, to become Tolstoy's private secretary. But one of the ideas -celibacy thing becomes increasingly difficult to embrace once Valentin embraced Masha (Kerry Condon), his first real love.

At the end of this wonderfully worm and touching movie -during "The Last Station's" closing credits, you will see the real people who are portrayed in the movie, as a special treat! Watch it if you can!