Union of Salvation

Union of Salvation is a 2019 Russian war epic period adventure film directed by Andrei Kravchuk, written by Nikita Vysotskiy and Oleg Malovichko, and produced by Konstantin Ernst. The film was created in collaboration with the Cinema Direction Studios with Mosfilm Studios and Lenfilm with the support of the Russian state Cinema Foundation. The story is about veterans of the French invasion of Russia of 1812, who conspired to install Konstantin Pavlovich as the new tsar of the Russian Empire, transform Russia into a constitutional monarchy and abolish serfdom. In Imperial Russia in 1816, several officers of the Russian Imperial Guard founded a society known as the Union of Salvation. They led a revolt in Saint Petersburg in December 1825, when about 3,000 officers and soldiers refused to swear allegiance to the new Tsar Nicholas I. This group of conspirators has become known as the Decembrist revolt. The revolt incorporated elements of the Life-Guards Moscow Regiment, Grenadier Life Guards Regiment, and Naval Equipage of the Guard. The film shows in detail both the Decembrist uprising on Senate Square in Saint Petersburg and the uprising of the 29th Chernigov Infantry Regiment of the Imperial Russian Army, stationed in the Kiev Governorate of the Russian Empire (Chernigov is now part of Ukraine). The main actors are: Leonid Bichevin, Maksim Matveyev, Pavel Priluchny, Ivan Yankovsky, Anton Shagin, Ivan Kolesnikov, Aleksandr Domogarov, Igor Petrenko, Sergey Peregudov, Vitali Kishchenko, Aleksei Guskov, Aleksandr Ustyugov, Sergey Koltakov, Vladislav Vetrov and Artyom Tkachenko in supporting roles.