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Blog by Don Kennedy

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The Last Station

The Last Station is a rich insight into the final year of one of the worlds most celebrated authors. War and Peace and Anna Karenina were written by Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer) but who knew that  the end his own life was an epic drama. Already an adored aristocrat writer living in pre-Bolshevik Russia he none the less embraces communist ideals setting up a “hippie” like commune in Telyatinki with Vladimir Chertkov (Paul Giamatti) a passionate kindred spirit who is despised by Tolstoy’s wife Countess Sofya (Helen Mirren). She thinks Chertkov is manipulating Leo and robbing her children of their birthright. To spy on one another both the Countess and Chertkov enlist the aid of Valentin Bulgakov (James McAvoy) a young and eager Tolstoy disciple who spends time at the commune when not working directly for the Count at his country estate. Although his sympathies lie with the countess he’s really powerless to come to her aid if her wishes are in conflict with Tolstoy’s, the man that he worships. Plummer who rarely disappoints is right on his game as Tolstoy and if Helen Mirren doesn’t watch out, Last Station may be her next stop for an Oscar nod. 

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