The task force under the command of Major Oleg Sorokin is facing a dangerous and many-sided enemy. Criminal authorities from Rostov-on-Don seek to expand their circle of influence to St. Petersburg and take control of a large pharmaceutical plant. However, in the course of the investigation, a no less formidable, but much more insidious “third force”, interested in the seizure of the plant, suddenly appears.
Lenfilm's most recent major production spins a kind of historical fantasy based on real incidents that's full of ominous implications for today. One night, a patrol rushes into the chambers of the Russian prince Pavel, son of the Empress Catherine; the Empress has died, and Pavel is to be anointed the new Tsar. Thought to be feeble-minded at best and crazy at worst, Pavel soon lives up to his enemies' fears: he dismisses long-serving courtiers, demands that peasants only work three days a week, and declares that state officials should start their days at 5 am. Soon, it seems that everyone who can is trying to hatch some kind of plot against him - including his own sons. Sumptuously designed, POOR POOR PAVEL constrasts the imperial splendor of the court with the sordid atmosphere of conspiracies and backstabbing that comes to define these characters' lives.
The film is set in the era of Peter I The Great, on the Russian North. The plot revolves around the fate of three people: Captain-Commander Sylvester Ievlev, customs army lieutenant Athanasius Krykov vaster and-White Sea Ivan Ryabov. Ivan Ryabov - a real historical character. In 1701, during the defense of Arkhangelsk from the Swedish military squadron of Charles XII, accomplished the feat as a vaster under the guise of traitors planted swedish flagship aground under fire from shore batteries.
