Russia - A Journey With Jonathan Dimbleby : Complete BBC Series [DVD]

To the people who still have the 'cold war and USSR' view of Russia, this journey through the varied parts of this, the largest country in the world, will be fascinating and a revelation about the people and the culture. This DVD in my opinion shows for the first time the true facts about this complex land with people who have been through so many difficult times during the dramatic changes before and after the Revolution. Having visited Russia and stayed in St Petersburg, Moscow and Tomsk I can only congratulate Jonathan Dimbleby and the BBC on a superb and accurate overview of the transitions which have led to the present Russian Federation. The locations picked to show the people in the sometimes stunning scenic views were inspired and in my opinion an essential part of this educational programme. I would recommend this Series to any thinking person who wishes to discover a relatively unexplored country whose reserves of minerals, oil and gas will have a great impact on the Western way of life in the not too far distant future. When you get off the Transaero 737 from Moscow to Tomsk at 6.10am with deep snow everywhere and a temperature of minus 46degC you know you have arrived in Siberia. However the traditional Christmas trees and decorations with the great local Xmas cheer and spirit (in my case a lifesaving glass of brandy)make you feel at home.
George G Brown, Bristol, England

This series, which was first shown on BBC1, consists of 5 episodes which are 1 hour long. To call a series Russia and then only give the series 5 hours of air play, is a total injustice to this enormous, complex and intriguing country.

I have travelled to Russia and Siberia many times, yet have only seen a tiny part of this vast country. The series does suffer from being far too selective in what Jonathan Dimbleby visits. He visits a City like St. Petersburg, but is too busy interviewing Russians about the past and future political movements to take in the Hermitage or Winter Palace. He goes to a large gold mine in Siberia and interviews the owners and asks them about domestic politics, which they refrain from answering. I would have preferred to have seen more of some great City than a gold mine. To do justice to a country that is so large, with so many fascinating regions and Cities, the BBC should have allowed for a longer series or asked the producer to focus less on politics and more on the country. The series is so selective in what it looks at and is loaded with the political bias of Dimbleby, who is clearly no friend of Putin. Several times Dimbleby interviews Russians and instead of allowing them their opinions, he jumps in with his own subjective narrative about what he thinks is right. I suppose he is a political journalist and simply cannot help himself. This style could be a problem for some viewers who are looking for a pure travel documentary. I would have preferred to see more of Russia and less of this political analysis.

Jonathan Dimbleby is no Michael Palin who is the master of these type of travel documentaries. Dimbleby doesn't seem to be as relaxed as Palin and when he does try to be amusing, such as the dance at the Tartar wedding, he just looks awkward.

Apart from quibbles about his style and series scope, I did enjoy this DVD documentary and would say that it is a good series, so long as you are not looking for a definitive guide to Russia and can accept Dimbleby's bias and political questions. Enjoyable but could be improved.

This is quite good and Dimbledy interviews some interesting and very engaging people--but it's also disappointingly superficial and often unsubtle,and though he clearly is fascinated by this extraordinary country and its mosaic of cultures, he carries a few too many western prejudices in my opinion--including the one that tries to make out Europe is only about Western Europe, so that even St Petersburg is spoken of as though it's not part of Europe, unlike say Paris or London. And Dimbledy has a tin ear when it comes to talking to Russians about democracy, for instance. But overall it's interesting enough even if I'd have liked more depth and subtlety.