Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny is a fascinating 1996 HBO TV-movie biopic about the infamous “mad monk” Rasputin from the court of Tsar Nicholas II in Russia.
The film first aired on March 23rd of 1996. It chronicles the last four years (1912–16) of Grigori Rasputin’s forced role as a healer to Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia; the heir apparent to the Russian throne as well as the only son of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna; who suffered from hemophilia. The film is narrated in the first person by Alexei.
Starring the late, great Alan Rickman as Grigori Rasputin, Greta Scacchi as Tsarina Alexandra and the great Ian McKellen as the last Tsar, Nicholas II.
SYNOPSIS:
In 1910s Pre-Revolution Russia, Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra find their son Alexei, sole heir to the Romanov dynasty, suffering from hemophilia and conventional medicine failing to help him. Alexandra looks into holistic treatments and finds Father Grigori Rasputin , a destitute monk who claims he had a vision from the Virgin Mary telling him that the Czar needed him. Though Nicholas and the royal doctor are both skeptical of Rasputin’s alleged healing abilities, young Alexei quickly bonds with the “prophet,” so he remains in the Royal Court. But Rasputin’s constant boozing and womanizing angers the aristocracy and worsens the already unstable tensions between Nicholas and his subjects. With the seeds of revolution brewing, it becomes increasingly apparent that a bad end awaits for the entire Royal Family.