A Sympathetic Rasputin

There is a moment in HELLBOY that occurs right before Kroenen murders Prof. Broom - Rasputin says, "It will be quick."

This a wonderful example of giving a character an added dimension - it is too easy to paint a villain just one color. Adding just the slightest evidence of a moral compass, no matter how askew, makes a character all the more interesting.

As it were, GDT's original script called for a different response-

BROOM

I am ready.

GRIGORY

Good. Now, I'll add two crumbs more:

(Kroenen displays his

knives)

Grief and revenge...

Kroenen's knife goes in.

I wonder what inspired the change?

The Russian Mystic Grigori Rasputin

Many people don't know that Grigori Rasputin, the villain from the first Hellboy movie and also the first Hellboy comic "Seed of Destruction", was actually a real person. Much of what is known is a mixture of legend and fact. This much is clear - he has earned a prominent spot in Russian history.

Grigori Efimovich Rasputin was born in Siberia, the exact date is unknown - most guess between 1882 and 1875. Some of the more interesting parts of his legend are as follows:

• Rasputin was born a peasant in Siberia. His father was rumored to be a criminal - a horse stealer. Grigori was thought to have had a sister, Maria, and a brother, Dmitri. According to legend, Maria drowned in a river, and Dmitri was to have died from pneumonia after falling into a pond. Grigori, of course, met his own fate in a river in his home town.


• It is said that as a child, Rasputin would talk to his father's horses in a "child language", comforting them. He was also said to have a mysterious talent for identifying thieves.


• Rasputin's early introduction into the spiritual realm was with the Khlysty sect through a chance meeting with a stranger. Khlysty had several "unusual" beliefs, among them a believe in the reincarnation of God in man. This "mysterious resurrection" empowers a person with powers to heal, prophesy, raise the dead, and deal out judgement at the Apocolypse. However, Rasputin's daughter claimed he rejected the sect's teachings.


• Rasputin gained power by becoming an advisor to Russian Czar Nicolas II, after being called on to heal his son, Tsarevich Alexei, from hemophilia. His influence on the Czar was of great concern. One example, from Wikipedia notes: "When Rasputin expressed an interest in going to the front to bless the troops early in the war, the Commander-in-Chief, Grand Duke Nicholas, promised to hang him if he dared to show up there. Rasputin then claimed that he had a revelation that the Russian armies would not be successful until the Tsar personally took command. With this, the ill-prepared Nicholas proceeded to take personal command of the Russian army, with dire consequences for himself as well as for Russia."


• Grigori weakened the integrity of the dynasty by his odd behavior and beliefs, but also by bragging about his influence with the Tsar. This brought about a conspiracy to murder him by a group of nobels. Legend says that the men first poisoned him, but oddly Rasputin was unaffected. They then shot him four times, but again, he still lived. At this point they bound him and threw him in a river to drown. His body was later recovered - an autopsy revealed the cause of death as hypothermia.


• Rasputin's body was later exhumed and burned. As the body burned, it appeared to sit up in the fire. (This legend is attributed to the tendons in the body shrinking as they were cooked)

For more reading check out these sites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigory_Rasputin

http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/r/Rasputin.html

http://www.alexanderpalace.com/2006rasputin/index.html

Give Hellboy Some Love

In THE GOLDEN ARMY, Hellboy is in love....and cohabitating...with Liz.

A true Hellboy comics purist should be outraged. Hellboy showing a softer side? His time on film should be better spent clocking overgrown octapus monsters, right?

Nah. In the movies, giving Hellboy a love interest works for two reasons: character development and comedy.

The theme of the first film was Hellboy finding out what it takes to be a man. Finding love fits right into that theme. And it works for Liz's character as well - she is an outsider, she is alone, confused - she is an orphan. She needs someone to love her. In HELLBOY, the movie, the relationship fits. It ties up everything in a neat package at the end of a 2 hour film, and develops the characters nicely.

And GDT also has tapped into a treasure trove of comedic potential by having Big Red pine for a woman - it is a classic comedic formula: big tough guy can fight villains but is tongue tied and awkward around a girl. The scene where Hellboy is trying to pen a note to Liz is very funny, and makes him even more likeable as a character.

I would cast aside any arguments that GDT put in the love story to appease studio heads or to make this film more "accessible" to the masses (i.e. women). GDT fought too hard to get the film made his way. If he didn't see the love story from the beginning, it wouldn't be there.

So I'm looking forward to seeing how the relationship progresses in THE GOLDEN ARMY. From the things I've heard, there sounds like there will be some very funny moments. But I'm also interested to see how this grows Hellboy (and Liz) as a character.

Since they are co-workers, I wonder if they have to fill out one of those forms in HR?