Nicholas and Alexandra

Alexis:
Why did you abdicate for me? You never asked!

Tsar Nicholas II:
I didn't want you to pay for my mistakes.

Alexis:
Am I not paying for them now? Aren't we all?

Tsar Nicholas II:
Oh, God, but it's good to be alive! The Earth is like a field in summer, just bursting with good things. Someday, when all the wars are over, someone young will lead us to the harvest. As long as there are children, anything is possible.

Tsarina Alexandra:
Nicky? Is it all right if I say something intimate?

Tsar Nicholas II:
In public?

Tsarina Alexandra:
I'll whisper it.

Tsar Nicholas II:
All right. What is it?

Tsarina Alexandra:
Nicky... I adore you.

Tsar Nicholas II:
I suddenly thought of the yacht this morning. Do you remember how the band used to play all the time?

Tsarina Alexandra:
Always out of tune. Do you think they drank?

Tsar Nicholas II:
How did that waltz go?

Tsarina Alexandra:
You're no better than the band.

Tsarina Alexandra:
The girls?

Tsar Nicholas II:
They won't come in. We're alone.

Tsar Nicholas II:
Your beautiful hands...

Tsar Nicholas II:
I still want you so much. Nothing can ever change that, Sunny.

Tsar Nicholas II:
A strong man has no need of power, and a weak man is destroyed by it.

Tsar Nicholas II:
A son! I have a son.

The American Ambassador:
In your position, I'd put this Lenin quietly in jail.

Alexander Kerensky:
On what pretext?

The American Ambassador:
I've read his speeches. Surely, you have to.

Alexander Kerensky:
I cannot put a man in jail for what he thinks. It's in your Bill of Rights.

The American Ambassador:
He wants to overthrow the government by force. We Americans call that treason.

Tsar Nicholas II:
The Russia my father gave me never lost a war. What shall I say to my son when the time comes? That I had no pride? That I was weak? I've always thought God meant me to rule. He put me here. He chose me, and whatever happens is His will. We shall fight on until victory.

Tsar Nicholas II:
The English have a parliament. Our British cousins gave their rights away. The Hapsburgs, and the Hoehenzollerns too. The Romanovs will not. What I was given, I will give my son.

Rasputin:
I see blood when I shut my eyes. A lot of blood. I saw blood once before, when I was in Jerusalem. And then my father died. In Kazan, there is an ivory Christ whose wounds bleed. Someone told me in Karkoff, there is a Madonna that sheds real tears. Matushka, I see things. I have power. I cure the sick. Holy men kneel to me and kiss my hands. I am a vessel of the Lord. I have spoken with God. It must be so, how else can I do these things? I save souls and bring peace. God leads me. He brought me here. He speaks through me. I am the voice of God. It is His will. I have been sent to do great things.

Tsar Nicholas II:
Why wasn't I told they were marching?

Count Witte:
Would you have met them?

Tsar Nicholas II:
How could I?

Count Witte:
Would you have given them a Duma?

Tsar Nicholas II:
Of course not!

Count Witte:
Elections? Schools?

Tsar Nicholas II:
No...

Count Witte:
THEN WHY BOTHER TO INFORM YOU? YOU WOULDN'T HAVE DONE ANYTHING.

Prince Yusupov:
We're going to be torn to peices. You politicians think you're in control, but you'll be swept away like the rest of us. Rome, Athens, Petersburg, you can't stop it. In the meantime, I shall enjoy myself. Come to my place on Thursday, Rasputin. I'm having a special little party. This beautiful scarf, have it. I can't stop the revolution, but until it comes, let's have some fun. Even if it's only for a few more days.

Queen Mother Maria Fedorova:
I wish your father were alive.

Tsar Nicholas II:
Don't throw him at me.

Queen Mother Maria Fedorova:
He knew how to be a Tsar. He'd have burned Vienna down, stamped on the Germans, shot the strikers, ANYTHING to give Russia peace. And HE'D certainly know how to deal with Rasputin. YOUR FATHER KNEW HOW TO BE A TSAR.

Tsar Nicholas II:
Tell me, Doctor Fedorov. If my son, as the future Tsar, were left behind, to be educated, while I and my family went abroad, how long would he be likely to live, as a hemophiliac?

Dr. Fedorov:
Deprived of your love and care, and what I hear are his natural surroundings, it's hard to say, it's a matter of luck and care, your Majesty. There are no real statistics. One would hope that he could live a normal life, but, well... twenty would be a good age.

Alexis:
Mother, I'm bleeding...

Tsarina Alexandra:
Oh, my God...

Alexis:
"Alexei, Alexei, musn't run and mustn't play, mustn't jump and mustn't climb, must be careful all the time.

Tsar Nicholas II:
We're seeing Witte.

Tsarina Alexandra:
That man!

Tsar Nicholas II:
He's a brilliant Prime Minister.

Tsarina Alexandra:
I never liked him.

Tsar Nicholas II:
I'm the one he bellows at.

Tsarina Alexandra:
You shouldn't let him. He's your servant. Everyone's your servant.

Tsarina Alexandra:
You enjoy yourself at parties. I get headaches. If you sat there, feeling everyone disliked you...

Tsar Nicholas II:
No one dislikes you.

Tsarina Alexandra:
Yes, they do. You never see unpleasant things. You drift away. Sometimes I wonder if you even hear me half the time.

Tsar Nicholas II:
Just now, I find you all too audible.

Tsarina Alexandra:
Nicky? Guess what.

Tsar Nicholas II:
You've got your headache.

Rasputin:
I was 23 when the vision came. We peasants get them all the time. The Virgin comes and tells them when to sell their sheep if they want to make a profit. She told me to become a pilgrim. So I started to walk. I waited for her to tell me when to stop, but she didn't. I walked 2000 miles, and when I got to Greece, I couldn't walk any longer. So I stopped. I spent 2 years in a monastery, and then I walked home again. Sometimes people say to me, "what do I need to become a starets?" and I say, "good feet."

Father Gapon:
The Tsar is here in Petersburg, to bless the troops. He's staying at the Winter Palace. Thousands of us will march there on Sunday morning. I'll go to him on the balcony, and read this: "Sire, we workingmen and inhabitants of St. Petersburg come to you, Sire, to seek for truth, justice, and protection. Only you can hear our prayers, and if you do not, we shall die, here on this square, before your palace."

Father Gapon:
He never came... Nicholas the Murderer. The bloody, bloody murderer.

Rasputin:
All saints were sinners once. God loves sinners.

Rasputin:
We had a man in Pokrovskoe. He didn't wash or work. He lied, stole, cheated, drank, chased all the women. He was a sinner. Why, out of all men, did the Virgin come to him?

Tsarina Alexandra:
Perhaps he lied. You said he was a liar...

Rasputin:
No. She came. I saw her. I know all there is to know about sin. Pray with me, Matushka. God is here.

Tsar Nicholas II:
I know what will make them happy. They're children, and they need a Tsar! They need tradition. Not this! They're the victims of agitators. A Duma would make them bewildered and discontented. And don't tell me about London and Berlin. God save us from the mess they're in!

Count Witte:
I see. So they talk, pray, march, plead, petition and what do they get? Cossacks, prison, flogging, police, spies, and now, after today, they will be shot. Is this God's will? Are these His methods? Make war on your own people? How long do think they're going to stand there and let you shoot them? YOU ask ME who's responsible? YOU ask?

Trotsky:
I'll never understand you. You hate anyone who's not your kind of Bolshevik more than you hate the Tsar.

Martov:
No wonder they call you Robespierre. Everyone's got to think like you, or they're out!

Trotsky:
He thinks freedom is something you write on a wall, you don't actually practice it.

Vladimir Lenin:
That's not true. Of course, I agree you're free to say what you like. And you must agree I'm free to shoot you for saying it.

Vladimir Lenin:
Murder, arson, terror, I'll agree to anything that gives us power. Power! And we can't have power if we compromise. Even though it takes years, power, and terror.

Alexis:
It's all right, Nagorny. You'll always save me.

Tsar Nicholas II:
Alexei spends all day with you. You hardly ever come to meals. I hardly ever seem to see you anymore.

Tsarina Alexandra:
My place is where I am needed most.

Tsar Nicholas II:
It must be hard to have so many people need you. I'll be patient. If I wait, my turn will come.

Tsarina Alexandra:
Sometimes I wonder how you live with me.

Tsar Nicholas II:
I wonder too. Only I know I could never live without you... Sunny.

Rasputin:
And the Lord be with you! Ha ha!

Tsar Nicholas II:
He's a good man. They always kill good men. The ones who've helped them most. They killed my grandfather. He freed the serfs, you know, he helped them. So they threw a bomb. Stolypin's a good man.

Tsar Nicholas II:
I can't find a match.

Vice Premier Kokovstov:
We've found the man who did it.

Tsar Nicholas II:
Man?

Vice Premier Kokovstov:
Some sort of revolutionary.

Tsar Nicholas II:
Damn them all. You help them, and they kill you for it. Give them Dumas, and they give you bombs. I want them paid in kind. Do you understand me? I want something done.

Nikolasha:
Here's some wonderful news, a telegram from the Kaiser, just what we wanted, offering to mediate between us and Austria.

Tsar Nicholas II:
I knew I could count on Willie! You see? He signed it "Your very dear and devoted cousin, Willie."

Count Witte:
With all due respect to your cousin, Sire, the Kaiser is a decietful megalomaniac. If he is offering to help, then it is time to pray.

Count Witte:
I am old, sir. I have seen so many wars. They all seemed so important at the time, but now I don't even remember what they were called. Millions of dead men! I don't know why. Nobody knows. You could so easily stop this war, sir. All you have to do is get up, now, quietly, and go home to your family. You would be the greatest of all the Tsars.

Tsar Nicholas II:
Gentlemen, Germany has declared war on Russia. God save Russia!

Nikolasha:
God save the Tsar.

Count Witte:
None of you will be here when this war ends. Everything we fought for will be lost, everything we've loved will be broken. The victors will be as cursed as the defeated. The world will grow old, and men will wander about, lost in the ruins, and go mad. Tradition, restraint, virtue, they all go. I'm not mourning for myself, but for the people who will come after me, they will live without hope. And all they will have will be guilt, revenge, and terror. And the world will be full of fanatics and trivial fools.

Alexander Kerensky:
Set all differences aside. We are Russians, first of all. And until the day of victory dawns, we stand united in the defense of Holy Russia.

Tsar Nicholas II:
All my life, my whole life I've done what you wanted. I gave mother up, you hated her, so we don't see her anymore, I gave my friends up, do you know I haven't a single friend? I've got my family. Four girls, one sick boy, and you. I ask, before I eat, or sleep, or change my clothes, "Is this what Sunny wants?" And it never is. There's always more. Sweet Jesus, how much do you want of me?

Rasputin:
So, you'd like to be an opera singer? Yes, you have the chest for it.

Rasputin:
I don't hate anyone. And yet, so many enemies. I'm not rich, what I get, I give away, I take no vengeance on the men I remove from office. When you fall, I won't abuse you.

Rasputin:
I can't leave. I want to serve Batushka and Matushka. I want peace, and food for peasants everywhere. I want that girl you you saw. And all the girls I haven't seen. I want to sleep, but can't sleep unless I'm drunk. I want to die and go to heaven. I want music. I want God to love me. I want to see YOU dance. Ha ha ha! Ha ha! Ha ha!

Queen Mother Maria Fedorova:
I came to congratulate you, Nicky.

Tsar Nicholas II:
What for?

Queen Mother Maria Fedorova:
For finding, out of all Russia's countless cretins, idiots and incompetence the men least qualified to run your government.

Rasputin:
I'm going to die soon, my friends. I've made my will. I won't live to see the new year. And it makes me angry.

Rasputin:
It's good to enjoy yourself with your friends, eh? I don't want to die.

Rasputin:
I've been poisoned... you tried to kill me... you all have. You silly fools... I thought I could trust you... you silly fools... you can't even KILL properly. You're too small to destroy me.

Rasputin:
Get up, prince. Get up! Try. Let's see you try to kill me.

Rasputin:
I begged Batrouchka not to start this war. I know who dies. You don't die, the people die. The wise old men, the generals, the ministers, the ones who say "Do this!" "Go there!" No mud on THEIR boots. No bullets in THEIR bellies. Where's YOUR rifle, prince, hmm? Why aren't you at the front where the blood is? I'm not a German. I come from the Russian soil. And you fools will never destroy me. Thank God Russia has sons like me, and isn't at the mercy of scum like you.

General Alexeiev:
Your majesty, I'm afraid it's too late. The Duma has appointed a provisional government, and all your ministers have been arrested.

Tsar Nicholas II:
Order... your troops... to march...

General Alexeiev:
At this moment, sire, if my troops knew the Tsar was here, there's every chance they would turn on you. And, sire, the Duma also insists on your abdication.

Tsar Nicholas II:
It will be spring soon, at Livadia. That's where you'll send us I imagine. I've often thought I should like to be a country gentleman. I've always liked to watch things grow. It's lovely there. And warm. And they say the soil is very good. Much of the happiness I've known, I've had there.

Tsar Nicholas II:
"March 15, 1917." The ides of March.

Tsar Nicholas II:
Citizen Nicholas Romanov.

The German Consul:
It's outrageous. We are here in Zurich, and if I understand you, you want the German government, which is at war with Russia, to take you to Sweden, because you can get across to Russia from there.

Vladimir Lenin:
I'm offering to stop the war.

The German Consul:
I didn't know you had so much authority.

Vladimir Lenin:
If there was a Bolshevik government in Russia, we'd immediately make peace with Germany. How many Germany divisions could you transfer to the western front then?

The German Consul:
And now you are asking for classified information. Do you realize my government has locked up more Bolsheviks than anyone else? How can you expect us to help you make a revolution? You have no sense of proportion!

Vladimir Lenin:
All I'm interested in is power in Russia. It's lying there on the streets, waiting to be picked up. Kerensky won't last. He's still fighting the war, and the people are desperate for peace. I shall offer them peace.

Tsar Nicholas II:
There. In just a few months, these will be turnips.

Anastasia:
Carrots.

Tsarevich Alexei:
And when they grow, will we still be here to eat them?

Tsar Nicholas II:
All we do is dream of England. We'd be very happy there.

Alexander Kerensky:
England... won't accept you.

Tsar Nicholas II:
Won't accept... King George is my cousin.

Alexander Kerensky:
He doesn't seem to want you either. He has his own position to worry about. Neither will the French. None of our allies want to risk it. They are at war to save democracy. You were a tyrant.

Alexander Kerensky:
No munitions, no supplies, I don't no where the army stands. The treasury is bankrupt, the students riot, the workers carry arms. The socialists want this, the mensheviks want that, the radicals, the centrists, the cadets... the bolsheviks. I can't arrest them even if I wanted to. We have rights and laws now. You had power and no laws. I have laws and no power.

Tsar Nicholas II:
I wish I could help you.

Alexander Kerensky:
You had your chances. I wish I had mine.

Vladimir Lenin:
Revolution! Revolution now! Land! Peace! All power to the soviets!

Tsar Nicholas II:
Things. Things one can do without. They break. They get lost. One buys and sells them. The main thing is that we are together.

Vladimir Lenin:
The Government has fallen. We shall now begin to construct the socialist order.

Alexander Kerensky:
The bolsheviks have taken the central station. If we had loyal troops, how many would it take to stop them?

General Alexeiev:
One regiment would be enough. But we haven't got a regiment! At least, not one we can trust.

Tsarina Alexandra:
At times I rather like it. Mending clothes, teaching classes, and quiet afternoons. A doze, a daydream, I think about my life. I don't know what I did wrong. I'd feel better if I did.

Alexis:
Father? There's no hope, is there father?

Tsar Nicholas II:
Nonsense.

Alexis:
None at all.

Colonel Kobylinsky:
Goodbye.

Tsar Nicholas II:
What will you do?

Colonel Kobylinsky:
What can I do? Whatever side I join, I kill Russians. I don't what I'll do.

Colonel Kobylinsky:
God bless you.

Tsar Nicholas II:
It's too late for that. But thank you.

Alexis:
I'd like to kill them.

Tsar Nicholas II:
Wait and see. They'll do what's right.

Alexis:
I know him. He's a murderer.

Tsar Nicholas II:
He's a thoughtful man. He'll send Nagorny back to us. He's not a monster. I've never known a heart without some murder in it. I made these men. They are our Russians. I am responsible for what they are. I let them starve. I put them in prisons. And I shot them. If there's hatred in them now, I put it there. But they ARE filled with love. And mercy, too. You must remember that.

Alexis:
They are all murderers.

Alexis:
I'd like to kill them all.

Tsar Nicholas II:
Do you have penalties in your new world for innocence?

Yurovsky:
Sometimes.

Yurovsky:
It takes a wise judge to know who is innocent and who is guilty.

Opening scene. The Tsaritsa is in labor as Dr. Botkin tends to her. The Tsar is waiting anxiously that the pregnancy is without issue

Count Fredericks:
Great news!

Tsar Nicholas II:
Is it a son?

Count Fredericks:
Yes! Eight pounds.

Tsar Nicholas II:
And Sunny, is she all right.

Count Fredericks:
Indeed, Your Majesty. Shall I make the announcement?

Tsar nods and Count Fredericks departs. Tsar is tearing up with joy

Tsar Nicholas II{talking to himself}:
It is incredible, I have a son!

Rasputin:
Batushka Tsar.

[Rasputin bows to the Tsar, who nods his head in return]

Rasputin:
Matushka, why are you afraid?

Tsaritsa Alexandra:
Why am I what?!

Rasputin:
I think you are frightened. Strangers frighten you. There was a case back in Pokrovskoe. That is my home; it is a little village in Siberia. There was a woman who was so frightened of strangers that she bought herself a pinewood box and lived in it. One day her husband buried the box with her in it. "Ivan, don't!", she cried. Her husband responded "I only want to make you happy". She said "I know, I know. But Heaven is full of strangers. Let me out!"

[Textile factory. Petya, a peasant man, leads Father Gapon down the steps]

Petya:
This way, Father, please hurry!

Sonya:
It is too late, Petya. She is dead.

[Petya looks in sorrow to see his mother has expired while Father Gapon gives his now-deceased mother Extreme Unction]

Petya:
My mother spent her whole life here. She was born in this factory, grew up here, took her classes here, played here, got married here. I was born, Father died, I got married here and had children. And now it is all over for her. The other people here just keep on working. Well, I cannot blame them. They have to work to feed their families. [pauses momentarily] Father, I have a confession to make. I want to kill somebody. The other factory workers come visit me some time. They tell me we ought to make bombs, blow things up. Well, I want to fight back for once!

Father Gapon:
The only thing violence produces is more violence. They will beat you and throw you in jail. There is a better way. We will go to see the Tsar with our grievances.

Sonya:
You know the saying, Father: God is too high and the Tsar is too far away.

[The "Bloody Sunday" massacre has just occurred.]

Tsar Nicholas II:
How many dead?

Prime Minister Witte:
Sir, we are still counting; but it is estimated to be in the hundreds.

Tsar Nicholas II:
Who gave the order to fire upon them?

Prime Minister Witte:
Your Majesty, nobody ordered it.

Tsar Nicholas II:
You run this government. Somebody had to have ordered something!

Prime Minister Witte:
Would you have gone out to meet them?

Tsar Nicholas II:
Of course not.

Prime Minister Witte:
Would you have given them a Duma? Allowed them to have elections? Had schools and hospitals built for them?

Tsar Nicholas II:
How could I?

Prime Minister Witte:
Then why bother to inform you about this? You would not have done anything!

Tsar Nicholas II:
What you have done for the Empire in the years since Witte retired has been nothing short of a miracle.

Prime Minister Stolypin:
I am not the one holding Russia together, you are! Here are the plans for the Tricentennial Tour across all of Russia. The tour is going to be long and taxing, but it is important that the people see that the dynasty is permanent and strong.

Tsar Nicholas II:
Anything else?

Prime Minister Stolypin:
I have these as well. Stolypin produces a dossier Police reports about Grigori Efifvomitch Rasputin. Drunk half the time. Carousing with women all throughout Saint Petersburg. Whores, officer's wives, you name it. I was also shown these.

Stolypin shows Tsar anti-monarchy cartoons. One depicts a topless Tsaritsa and another shows the Tsar and Tsaritsa sitting in Rasputin's lap

Tsar Nicholas II:
Damn it, what is wrong with the Ohkrana? Can't 10,000 secret agents find a printing press?

[Tsar crumples up cartoons and throws them into the Black Sea]

Prime Minister Stolypin:
It is a network. The agents cannot find them all. You need to send Rasputin back to Pokrovskoe, or at least somewhere away from Petersburg. They are talking about it in the Duma.

Tsar Nicholas II:
Damn that Witte! He made me give a parliament to the people.

Prime Minister Stolypin:
I do not like the Duma any more than you do but it is better for the commoners to feel they have a voice in government instead of being wooed by the rebels. Still, people are wondering why you invite Rasputin to be around your family.

Tsar Nicholas II:
You know why.

Prime Minister Stolypin:
I do, but the people do not!

Tsar Nicholas II:
So the concern is they don't understand Rasputin. You say I should do something to clear the air, sure. How about this for the announcement: "Citizens, your Tsarevitch could have a nosebleed and die from it!"

Prime Minister Stolypin:
You have got to banish Rasputin, I cannot control the situation if you do not! People think he goes to bed with your wife and daughters, of all nasty rumors!

Tsar Nicholas II:
The problem is if I kick out Rasputin what will happen for...

Tsaritsa Alexandra:
Alexei!

[Tsar's family and Prime Minister Stolypin watch in horror as Alexei decides to climb a sea mount. Nagorny, a sailor in the Russian Navy has been assigned as Alexei's bodyguard, climbs sea mount after him. Alexei slips and falls but is grabbed by Nagorny in a bear hug]

Nagorny:
Your Majesty, are you all right?

Tsarevitch Alexei:
I am all right Nagorny, you caught me. You will always be there for me.

Tsar Nicholas II:
My decision stands. I have seen your conduct in public. I have read the reports. I am seeing you as a matter of courtesy, the same as I would for any of my ministers or like members of court. If you have come to plead...

Grigori Rasputin:
I have come to say goodbye.

Tsar is somewhat taken aback that Rasputin wants to leave of his own volition

Grigori Rasputin:
I don't like Saint Petersburg. It makes me drink. And when I drink, the women come on to me. I know these peasant women but in Petersburg, whew! I am homesick for Pokrovskoe. Is Matushka upset with me?

Tsar Nicholas II:
She will not so much admit you take a drink, let alone...No.

Grigori Rasputin:
She is a saint. If you need me while I am gone, just pretend that I am there. I only sit and listen anyway.

[Following the assassination of Prime Minister Stolypin, a wave of police brutality occurs. Petya the factory worker is chased away after it is shown he has anti-monarchist cartoons under his bed. Scene changes to the Duma, where policemen are standing by to usher out the Duma members as the Tsar has ordered it dissolved]

Alexander Kerensky:
Tell the Tsar that he can close this building, but he cannot silence the voice of the Russian commoners!

Members of the Duma [in unison]:
Hear, hear!

Duma President:
Mr. Kerensky, I have the floor. You are not to speak out of turn!

Alexander Kerensky:
The Duma is not a street corner. We are not rebels and bombmakers. Most of us want a system similar to the English way. Let there be a Tsar. But let there also be the rule of law and reprenstative government as well. Bring the Tsar to us and let him be told that.

Members of the Duma [in unison]:
Hear, hear!

Duma President:
The Tsar is not here right now. He is at his hunting lodge in Poland.

Alexander Kerensky:
I do not care if he is in Scotland shooting wild grouse! If he is not here, then go to the Tsar and tell him that by dissolving the Duma, he is bringing ruin on his head and emboldening the rebels. Tell him now! Tell him, while there is a Tsar still left to tell!

[Siberia. Rasputin is in his native village of Pokrovskoe. He is riding on a horse guzzling liquor straight from the bottle when he approaches three attractive peasant girls shoveling hay. A wagon full of hay bales lumbers down the road near a walking nun]

Nun:
Good day, and may the Lord be with you.

[Rasputin emerges nude from the hay bales, still chugging his bottle of booze but now accompanied by the three peasant girls who are now topless]

Rasputin:
And the Lord be with you! [laughs]

[The nun frantically crosses herself at seeing such a vulgar sight]

[1914. The Tsar is sending and receiving telegrams to Kaiser Wilhelm II]

Military aide:
Your Majesty, a telegram from the Kaiser. He offers his help in the Serbian mess.

Tsar Nicholas II:
You see, I knew I could count on Willy!

Prime Minister Witte:
With all due respect to your cousin, sire, the Kaiser is a deceitful megalomaniac. If he is offering to help us out, then we really need to start praying.

[War plans have been made and flag officers are cracking open champagne and partying, supremely confident in their short victory over the Central Powers]

Colonel Volkov:
This one cannot get to the colors fast enough!

[Partying is momentarily halted when the Tsar enters room. The flag officers stand at attention]

Grand Duke Nicholas:
Your Majesty, may I present the head of the Foreign Ministry, Minister Sazarov.

Minister Sazarov:
Gentlemen, at ten past seven, Germany declared war on Russia.

Tsar Nicholas II:
May God save Russia!

Flag officers [in unison]:
God save the Tsar!

[First World War. Colonel Volkov is reviewing the Imperial Army, which has in its ranks every man it can acquire, from teenage boys barely finishing adolesence to white-bearded old men. Colonel Volkov's mood is significantly less cocky from the 1914 party when he believed it would be a short war]

Colonel Volkov:
The men have orders to be at the front lines by tonight. Do we have any horses or motor transport?

Russian Major:
No, sir. None are available.

Colonel Volkov:
Very well, they have to walk.

Russian Major:
Right face!

[Russian soldiers turn to their right]

Russian Major:
Forward march!

[The Major leads the soldiers in march towards combat zone. Colonel Volkov walks in opposite direction and reclines under a tree. He takes one last look at the sky as he unholsters his pistol, sticks it in his mouth, then squeezes the trigger]

Empress Dowager Marie:
You have to stop being out here on the front lines and get back to Tsarskoe Selo, where you belong! Rasputin is in Saint Petersburg, running it all into the ground! If you do not act now, we will be ruined and madmen will come!

Tsar Nicholas II:
What should I do?

Empress Dowager Marie:
Hang him! Send him to the gallows! I do not wish ill on any man, but so many Russians are going to die if you do not!

Tsar Nicholas II:
I cannot.

Empress Dowager Marie:
Then send him to Siberia! Get back home, send Alexandra to Livadia and take charge of everything!

Tsar Nicholas II:
Rasputin lives in Siberia. Besides, what am I to do when my son has a hemophilia attack and Sunny needs Rasputin's help?

Empress Dowager Marie:
Do you believe that? Do you honestly and seriously believe that? Millions of Russians are going to starve to death and be murdered, and all because you cannot say no to your wife! In that case I ask you, Nicholas, what can you do?

Tsar Nicholas II:
Just what I am doing.

Empress Dowager Marie:
I wish your father were still alive. He would know what to do!

Tsar Nicholas II:
Don't you dare throw him in my face!

Empress Dowager Marie:
Why shouldn't I? He would have burned Vienna down, bombarded the Germans, hung the rebels, shot the strikers, anything to give Russia peace! And he would certainly know what to do about Rasputin! Your father knew how to be a Tsar!

[Members of the Duma are applauding and patting each other on the back to celebrate Rasputin's death]

Duma Member #1:
The beast is dead!

Duma Member #2:
His killers are heroes!

Duma Member #3:
Russia is saved!

[The only members not hooting are Alexander Kerensky and another unnamed member, both of whom roll their eyes and give the impression of "don't party just yet". The ribaldry dies down and the Duma returns to talking shop. Kerensky has the floor]

Alexander Kerensky:
One madman has been eliminated and you guys are dancing in the aisles! The German Tsaritsa is still running the country. The Central Powers have been winning victory after victory. The Army is in disarray. One-third of our soldiers go without food, medicine or boots. Entire battalions are defecting! Agricultural production has been sapped and civilians lack meals. The Tsar needs to stop hiding with his troops at the front lines and get back to Saint Petersburg where he belongs. Chaos is coming to Russia, and he needs to be here to deal with it!

General Alexiev:
Your Majesty, I have an urgent communique. A riot in Saint Petersburg!

Tsar Nicholas II:
Riot? This cannot be, we are at war! This must be some joke!

General Alexiev:
No joke, sire. Workers are on strike and people are raiding warehouses. The Army refuses to open fire on them.

Tsar Nicholas II:
Telegraph this to the Military Governor. All riots are to be stopped at once. Martial law is to be declared. The Duma is to be dissolved. I return to Saint Petersburg immediately.

General Alexiev:
I only hope there is someone in Saint Petersburg to read our orders.

[The Tsar is having coffee with a medical officer; contemplating abdication]

Tsar Nicholas II:
Tell me, Dr. Federov, if my son, as the future Tsar, were to stay behind to be educated in Russia while my family traveled abroad, how much longer would he be likely to live?

Doctor Federov:
Deprived of your love and care, it is hard to say. There are no real statistics on this. It is a matter of luck and chance, Your Majesty. One could hope he could live a long and normal life, as we do for everyone. However, given my speculation on his medical issues, I would say...twenty would be a good age.

[The tsar is teaching gardening to his children.]

Tsar Nicholas II:
In a few months, these will be turnips.

Grand Duchess Anastasia:
[giggling] They are carrots.

Tsarevitch Alexei:
And when they grow, will we still be around to eat them?

Tsar Nicholas II:
All we do is dream of England. We have been very happy there.

Alexander Kerensky:
England will not accept you.

Tsar Nicholas II:
Won't accept? King George is my cousin!

Alexander Kerensky:
He does not seem to want you, either. He has got his own station to worry about.

Tsar Nicholas II:
Yes, I must not make trouble for...

Alexander Kerensky:
Neither will the French. They are at war to save liberty. You were an autocrat.

Tsar Nicholas II:
Damn it! I am a father with a family! Is there not any way? How about Finland? It is only thirty miles away!

Alexander Kerensky:
I would never get you out of Saint Petersburg alive. Are you aware that I am all that stands between you and the block? You will be safe under my administration, you have my promise on that. There is blood enough on everybody's hands; I will not have yours on mine. A fine mess Russia in in. Treasury is empty. The Radicals want this, the Socialists want that, the Kadets want the other thing. The Bolsheviks want this, the Mensheviks want that. I could not throw them in jail even if I wanted to! You had power but no laws; I have laws but no power.

Tsar Nicholas II:
I wish I could help.

Alexander Kerensky:
You had your chances. I sure hope I get mine.

British Ambassador to Russia:
Is Russia committed to the war effort?

Alexander Kerensky:
Indeed.

French Ambassador to Russia:
There is talk about Russians demanding Russia's withdrawal from the war.

Alexander Kerensky:
That is the mostly the Bolsheviks. But do not worry about that; the Bolsheviks only have six seats in the Duma, nobody takes them seriously.

U.S. Ambassador to Russia:
Washington is prepared to grant a loan of several hundred million rubles to aid your fledling government, but that is contingent upon Russia's military involvement. No war, no loan.

[Kerensky is annoyed by the use of American taxpayers' money to sway Russian opinion]

Alexander Kerensky:
You cannot buy Russia! We will fight! But not to get your tax money. We have lost so much already.

U.S. Ambassador to Russia:
If I were you, I would put this Lenin quietly in jail.

Alexander Kerensky:
I cannot do that just because there has been a bad history in Russia about that sort of thing. It is has been far too easy for the leaders to throw people in jail.

U.S. Ambassador to Russia:
I have read his speeches. Surely you have to.

Alexander Kerensky:
I cannot throw a man in jail for what he thinks! Of all the people of the world, you Americans should understand that best! It is in your Bill of Rights.

U.S. Ambassador to Russia:
Lenin wants to overthrow the government by force. We Americans call that treason.

[Royal family is being prepared for their exile into Siberia]

Grand Duchess Marie:
Look! I found Tobolsk on the map!

Count Fredericks:
Now remember, girls, you are princesses. You are to carry yourselves as such at all times. If I hear of any misbehavior, I shall be deeply upset.

Grand Duchess Tatiana:
Do not worry, Vladimir, we will be good.

[Count Fredericks tries to put on a brave face as he is aware of the possible final fate of the Romanovs. The Tsar's daughters give him a group hug]

Count Fredericks:
Help Mama and Papa.

Alexander Kerensky:
I have assigned Colonel Koblinsky to watch over you until I can arrange for a way to safely exile you. His orders carry all the weight of mine.

Tsaritsa Alexandra:
Nicky, this is horrible! I want my clothes, I want my cosmetics, I want my jewelry!

[The Tsar holds his wife and admonishes her to be strong]

Tsar Nicholas II:
Dear, those are only things. Things get broken, they get mislaid, they get dusty. The important fact is we have each other.

Alexander Kerensky:
Frau Romanova, you have kept your head. I recommend you show gratitude for that.

[German Embassy to Switzerland. Lenin, who is handcuffed to a chair, is being interrogated by a German consul, who is reading a dossier]

German Consul:
Ah, let us see. Name: Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov. Born in Simbirsk in 1870. Attended the University of Kazan but was expelled for participating in anti-monarchist protests. Older brother hanged in 1887 for the attempted assination of the present Tsar's father. Married, no children. Does not smoke, and does not allow his colleagues to smoke either.

[The Consul blows a ring of cigar smoke in Lenin's face]

Lenin:
The Tsar should have had your secret police. My party will make a study of your methods.

German Consul:
This dossier failed to mention your sense of humor. Let us stop and think of the absurdity of your idea. You want the German government, which is at war with Russia, to smuggle you into your native country which banished you, because you claim you can single-handedly end the war?

Lenin:
My government will immediately make peace with Berlin.

German Consul:
I never knew you had so much authority.

Lenin:
There is power just lying in the streets, up for grabs! Kerensky won't last, he is too busy continuing Russian involvement in the war and the people are desperate for peace! I shall give them peace. With Germany finished with the Eastern Front do you know how many regiments you could transfer to the Western Front?

German Consul:
And now you are asking me for classified information. A Marxist wanting to use the Kaiser? Are you aware that Germany has locked up more Bolsheviks than any other country in the world? But then again, war causes strange alliances. Perhaps the Kaiser...could use a Marxist.

[October Revolution. Bolsheviks make plans to capture infrastructure and government buildings. Kerensky and his staff are trapped inside their boardroom]

Alexander Kerensky:
They captured the police station? Exactly how powerful are the Bolsheviks?

Government Official:
Quite. We made a serious mistake in heeding our allies and continuing the war. The citizenry wanted out of this war. Lenin offered them peace.

Alexander Kerensky:
What would it require to smash them?

General Alexiev:
One battalion, sir. But I do not know if I have that many soldiers. At least not ones I can trust.

Russian Lieutenant:
Look out the window!

[Provisional Government peers out window to a nearby naval base where a cruiser is shining its lights directly on their building]

Russian Lieutenant:
The cruiser Aurora. And she has her guns aimed directly at us!

[Duma. It is now entirely full of Bolsheviks and has been renamed the Politburo]

Lenin:
The Provisional Government has fallen! We now have power! At long last, we will build our new world order.

[Freeze frame as Lenin's face changes into a bust and the Soviet anthem plays]

[Kerensky is conferring with several foreign ambassadors observing the Duma]

Alexander Kerensky:
[to the British ambassador] Not quite the way you do it in your Parliament. We haven't English manners yet.

British Ambassador:
My government is more concerned with content than the style. One detects a certain sentiment for peace. That worries us.

Alexander Kerensky:
It's mostly the Bolsheviks. Nobody pays any attention to them. They only have six members in the Duma.

U.S. Ambassador:
In your position, I would put this Lenin quietly in jail.

Alexander Kerensky:
On what pretext?

U.S. Ambassador:
I have read his speeches. Surely you have, too.

Alexander Kerensky:
I cannot put a man in jail for what he thinks! It's in your Bill of Rights.

U.S. Ambassador:
He wants to overthrow the government by force. We Americans call that treason.

Alexander Kerensky:
In Russia, it's been too easy to lock a man up because he disagrees with you. It's a bad habit. If the people want Lenin, they can vote him into power in December. Until that time... [sees the speaker stepping from the podium] Rodzianko's finished. I must speak now.

U.S. Ambassador:
I trust I've made my government's position clear. America wants Russia in the war.

British Ambassador:
The British government is equally worried about the peace demonstrations.

French Ambassador:
No more than France. Russia's contribution is vital to the Allied cause.

U.S. Ambassador:
Let me be blunt, Mr. Kerensky: We're offering you three hundred million dollars if you fight. No war, no loan.

Alexander Kerensky:
[annoyed] You cannot buy Russia. We will fight because we've already sacrificed too much.

[Royal family is being prepared for their exile into Siberia]

Grand Duchess Marie:
Look! I found Tobolsk on the map! It's further away than London!

Count Fredericks:
Yes, ma chere. Now remember, you are princesses. If I hear of any misbehavior, I shall be very angry.

Grand Duchess Tatiana:
We'll be good.

[Count Fredericks tries to put on a brave face as he is aware of the possible final fate of the Romanovs. The Tsar's daughters give him a group hug]

Count Fredericks:
You're all so big now... help Mama and Papa. [walks over to Alexei] Goodbye, Alexis. [hugs him]

Tsarevitch Alexei:
I'm glad we're going. I hate this place.

Count Fredericks:
[to Nicholas] Let me come with you.

Tsar Nicholas II:
No. You're too old for Siberia. You'll be alright.

Count Fredericks:
But who will look after you? You've never been anywhere without me. [Nicholas embraces him]

Tsar Nicholas II:
Take care of yourself.

[Kerensky approaches with one of his officers]

Alexander Kerensky:
The train is ready. [indicates the officer]. This is Colonel Koblinsky. You will be under his command until you leave the country. His orders carry my authority, at all times.

Tsaritsa Alexandra:
Nicholas, I want my things! I want my pictures and my scrapbooks! I want --

Alexander Kerensky:
Frau Romanov, you have kept your head. You should be grateful.

Tsar Nicholas II:
It doesn't matter. Come along. [to Fredericks] No, Vladimir, one goodbye was enough. Please. [to Alexandra] Things. Things one can do without. They break, get lost. One buys and sells them. The main thing is we're together.

[October Revolution. Bolsheviks make plans to capture infrastructure and government buildings. Kerensky and his staff are trapped inside their boardroom]

Alexander Kerensky:
The Bolsheviks have taken over the station, the telegraphs, the banks... how strong are they? If we had loyal troops, how many would it take to dislodge them?

General Alexiev:
One regiment would be enough. But I haven't got a regiment. At least, not one I can trust.

Alexander Kerensky:
Yes, but there's only a handful of them, surely! We could smash them if we acted now!

Government Official:
We told the people to go on with the war. Lenin offered peace. That's where we went wrong.

General Alexiev:
Look at this. [Kerensky glances out the window to see a Russian cruiser flashing her searchlights] The cruiser Aurora. And every gun is trained on us.

[Tobolsk. It is a bleak winter even during Easter]

Colonel Koblinsky:
I can't trust my own men. Anything could set them off. I don't give orders anymore; I make suggestions. They go and vote. Tomorrow they could vote to hang me. It's absurd!

Tsar Nicholas II:
They're decent boys.

Colonel Koblinsky:
They were once, but they're lonely now, cold and scared to death. Have you got any money?

Tsar Nicholas II:
Not much, why?

Colonel Koblinsky:
Has it crossed your mind that I represent a nonexistent government? Who put me in this post? Who gave me the authority? Whose money pays the troops? Kerensky's gone! The money's gone! I haven't paid them in a month!

Tsar Nicholas II:
You think I should pay them? The prisoners keep the guard. [chuckling] I wish I'd had you for my finance minister. You would have revolutionized the penal system!

Colonel Koblinsky:
Don't laugh.

Tsar Nicholas II:
Shall I take the collection?

Colonel Koblinsky:
In Tobolsk there are rumors of a civil war. God only knows what's going on! Out here, exposed like this... [points to the stockade being built] That's not to keep you in here; it's to keep them out.

Tsar Nicholas II:
"Them"? Who are you expecting?

Colonel Koblinsky:
I don't know. I hate this damned assignment! I can't answer for your safety. I can't do my job.

Tsar Nicholas II:
You care what happens to us, don't you?

Colonel Koblinsky:
It's my job to.

Tsar Nicholas Ii:
[On his newborn son] The boy will bring us luck. We will smash the Japanese and kick them out of Korea, and I do not care the cost! I have a son to fight for now.

Tsar Nicholas Ii:
No fact begins with if.

Tsar Nicholas Ii:
[Touring Russia by railroad in honor of the Tricentennial of the House of Romanov] I did not want to do this tour. But God, I so love it when they stand and wave!

Tsar Nicholas Ii:
[Explaining the events of 1914 to his son Alexei] You see, sometimes governments do things their people do not like. So the people react in different ways. The British vote. The Americans frequently remind their leaders of the U.S. Constitution. And the Serbs throw bombs. You see, Serbia wants its independence. But Austria will not grant it to them. So the Serbs resort to violence. It has happened in this country too sometimes. Your great-grandfather was killed by a bomb; so was Uncle Sergei. But Serbia is a long way away. Our foreign ministry will write some angry letters to the Serbian leaders, our generals will go on exercise, and everything will be right again. And we do not need have bad dreams about archdukes. All over Europe, kings and queens are sleeping safely in their beds, and that is what we are going to do, too.

Prime Minister Witte:
Imagine, sire, imagine that you are a factory worker. You're really poor. Your belly is never full. You freeze eight months of the year. Your children have no school, no doctor. Your country taxes you and sends your sons a continent away to die on a piece of land on the Pacific. Now sir, Japan is a third-rate power. If she defeats us, if Port Arthur falls, we shall be disgraced in the eyes of the world and here at home we shall have an insurrection on our hands.

Prime Minister Witte:
[Begging the Tsar to stay out of World War One] We can't run a modern war, sir. We're not fighting Napoleon this time! Germany has ten miles of railway to every one of ours and they have a hundred factories for every one of ours. All we have is men! We'll be slaughtered like flies!

Vladimir Lenin:
You must understand that you are free to say whatever you like. You must also understand that I am free to shoot you for saying it.

Vladimir Lenin:
I speak, nobody pays attention. I write, nobody reads it. I am out of style, nobody is wearing me this season. I mean, three hundred years of Romanovs. What is not to say there will not be 300 more?

Grand Duke Nicholas:
[Explaining the logistics of the Russo-Japanese War] Well Nicky, let me put it this way. Presents a bullet This is a bullet, munitioned in Saint Petersburg. I send it off to war. How does it get there? On a single spur of railroad track four thousand miles long. And in the middle, no track at all. God help us, it spends three days packed on sleds. This works the same way for every pair of boots, first aid kit, or pound of tea we send. Get out now, Nicky. While there is time.

Grand Duke Nicholas:
[Speaking to the Tsar about the First World War] I could have won this war if I only had to confront one enemy in front of me, the Germans. But I had two enemies behind my back, your wife and her monk! You know, Rasputin actually wrote to me asking if he could come to the front lines to bless the troops. I replied that if he ever showed his face we would hang him on sight! I was an idiot to say that; should have let him come, we would have hung the bastard once he got here!

Colonel Volkov:
They won't last a week. We'll bury the German army and that little pansy of a Kaiser and be home in time for Christmas!

Prince Yusupov:
You ministers never cease to amaze me. You think you are in control, but you are going to be swept away just like us princes.

Prince Yusupov:
Do you like this scarf? Have it. [gives scarf to Rasputin] I am throwing a little soiree on Thursday, why not come? I cannot stop the revolution, but until it comes, let us have some fun. Even if it is only for a few more days.

Alexandra:
Does he have to be Alexis? Can't we call him something else?

Nicholas:
Alexis was a gentle czar. Perhaps the only one.

Alexandra:
Not counting you.

English Journalist:
Excuse me, Mr. Lenin. I'm from the Socialist Worker. Could you tell me what you think of the socialist movement in England?

Mme. Krupskaya:
The English cut their meat wrong, their tea is terrible, and the weather was better in Siberia. At least you keep your policemen under control.

Stolypin:
I don't like the duma any more than you do, but I'd rather let them talk than have to deal with riots and strikes and marches. It would be better to give them more power than face that.

Nicholas:
I am the czar. And I would never accept that.

Stolypin:
[holding out a dossier] Police reports on Grigori Efimovitch Rasputin. Drunk half the time. Whores, generals' wives. Oh, he's generous with himself. I'll say that for him. That's his only Christian virtue. He'll sleep with anyone, and it's no secret. Everybody knows it. He came to see me, apparently with Her Majesty's blessing. He even tried to hypnotize me. Why is such a man admitted to the palace?

Nicholas:
You know why.

Stolypin:
Your people don't.

Nicholas:
I'll tell them, shall I? "Citizens, your czarevitch could get a bloody nose and die from it."

Nicholas:
You puzzle me. You'd be happy to see us dead, and yet you help us get away.

Yakovlev:
I haven't your taste for murder, Bloody Nicholas. I've never had a chance to get used to it. How many men have you killed? Have you the least idea? God knows how many peasants died. Nobody counted children. You only know the number of soldiers because somebody counted them for you. Seven million. Six quarts a man times seven million. It's an ocean. Have you ever seen a battle? I'm wrong. You're not Bloody Nicholas. You're a man of no imagination.

Nicholas:
I didn't want to come on this tercentenary tour, Pyotr Arkadyevich. But, God help me, I do love it when they stand and wave.

Alexandra:
I've had a son. For years, I've daydreamed how I'd feel. And all that time, I never dreamed ... I'm filled with ... I don't know. It isn't joy or anything like that. It's more. It's terribly important. And I don't know why you're smiling.

Alexandra:
To marry Nicky, I had to change my faith. That was a great sin, don't you think? God thinks so. He won't hear me when I pray. I've sinned and He won't listen.

Alexandra:
This is the beginning of the glory of your reign. Our friend told me so. It will be the greatest page in Russian history, the story of these weeks and days. And when you go, don't worry over what you've left behind. I'm here. Lean on me, use me. I'm not wise or strong, but God will show me what to do.

Grand Duke Nicholas:
There's this fantastic holy fellow just arrived. You must meet him. He's a live, authentic starets straight from the fields. Cures diseases by the laying on of hands. I've seen him do it. Saw this fellow wheeled in, legs like pretzels. Then the starets – Grigori Rasputin is his name – gave him a deep look, touched him, prayed a bit. And up the pretzel popped and skipped about the room. A bit grotesquely, I admit, but you could tell he was skipping.

Lenin:
In the last ten years, I've spent three months in Russia. I'm out of fashion. No one's wearing me this year. I talk, and no one listens. I write, and no one reads.

Marie Fedorovna:
Not even London on a Sunday is as boring as a room full of Romanovs.

Marie Fedorovna:
We're an 18th-century country in a 20th-century world. We need all our strength and money to look after Russia. Don't waste it on those little yellow Buddhists or pagans or whatever they are. It's a great mistake to get involved in all these strikes and wars. You only encourage them by taking them seriously.