Archangel (1990) on Netflix
PG-1319901h 22mDramaRomanceWar
In 1919, one-legged Canadian soldier Lt. John Boles is billeted with a Russian family in Archangel. He mistakes Veronkha for his dead lover Iris, though she is married to an amnesiac, Philbin.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb6.3/101,901 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes75%
Trailer
Plot summary
During the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, Canadian troops serve in the northern Russian region of Archangel in 1919. One-legged soldier Lt. John Boles is on a steamship with the ashes of Iris, his dead lover; an officer takes the urn for a liquor bottle and throws it into the sea. Boles is billeted in Archangel with a Russian family: Geza, a brave son; Jannings, a cowardly father; Danchuk, the mother; a grandmother called Baba; and a baby. Geza has a seizure when Boles arrives, so Boles treats him with horsehair brushes and prescribes folk remedies, scoffing at Baba's. Veronkha enters; Boles faints at her likeness to Iris and comes to believe she is his lost love. Veronkha's husband Philbin has forgotten everything after his wedding day, a doctor explains; she rebuffs him and leaves.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Archangel (1990)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Archangel fictionalizes the historical conflict of the Bolshevik Revolution in the Arkhangelsk region of Russia, and the basic concept was presented to director Guy Maddin by John Harvie.
- Guy Maddin shot Archangel in black and white on 16 mm film for $430,000, and modeled the film on the style of a part-talkie, an early cinema genre.
