The film tells about the “last page of Russia” – a man of amazing destiny, amazing strength of spirit M.I. Valberg. The hero’s stories about the Page Corps, about Russia on the eve of the First World War and the October Revolution take place against the backdrop of today’s life, today’s attempts to revive the traditions of the cadet corps.
Pupils of the Tsarskoye Selo Cadet School play in the grass.
One of the last graduates of the Page Corps, M.I. Valberg, stands by the window.
Pupils of the Tsarskoye Selo Cadet School during drill exercises, the girls watch the lesson from around the corner.
A teacher in the uniform of the Russian Imperial Army leads the lesson.
Valberg talks about his life in St.
Petersburg before the revolution, about his father, about enrollment in the Page Corps (synchronously and off-screen).
Pupils of the Tsarskoye Selo Cadet School walk in the park.
Valberg sits on a bench in the park.
Pupils of the Tsarskoye Selo Cadet School during a break in drill exercises, the girls watch the pupils.
The faces of Valberg sitting on the bench.
View of the cathedral building in Tsarskoye Selo, a unit of pupils of the Tsarskoye Selo Cadet School passes by the cathedral.
The mother of one of the cadets talks about the reasons that prompted her to send her son to study at the Tsarskoye Selo Cadet School, about her work as a teacher at the cadet school, about the subjects studied at the school (synchronously and off-screen).
The parents of one of the cadets, working as teachers, are busy with housework and mending uniforms.
The mother helps the cadet button his tunic.
The father tries on a cadet overcoat for his eldest son, gives the overcoat to the younger one.
Valberg walks in the Tsarskoye Selo Park, off-screen Valberg's memories of his childhood and adolescence, and thoughts about the revival of the best aspects of the old life are heard.
A childhood photo of Valberg in the uniform of the Page Corps with his sister.
Valberg talks about his admission to the Page Corps, exams and medical examination, about relationships within the corps, about his fellow students (synchronously and off-screen).
An officer of the Tsarskoye Selo Cadet School adjusts the uniform of the cadets.
Issuing shoulder straps to the cadets.
The cadets polish the buttons issued to them on the cloth of their greatcoats.
The Gospel issued to Valberg upon his enrollment in the Page Corps.
Pupils of the Tsarskoye Selo Cadet School in formation.
Brother cadets walk through the park.
The faces of the cadets during a lesson in the Law of God, the priest explains the topic of the lesson.
1993
Saint Petersburg Leningrad region
Autumn Winter
Cadets in the reading room of the library of the Tsarskoye Selo Cadet School.
A book on the history of the Page Corps is held by one of the cadets.
Photographs of officers and pages of the corps.
Valberg talks about the social and national composition of the pages, about the representatives of the Persian and Thai royal families who studied at the corps (synchronously and behind the scenes).
Photographs of officers and pages.
Valberg looks at old photographs.
Pupils of the Tsarskoye Selo Cadet School perform the Preobrazhensky Regiment march during a singing lesson, an officer leads the lesson, the faces of the cadets.
The cadets sort out their greatcoats and hats after the end of the lesson, parents help the younger cadets get dressed.
The cadets head to the exit to the street.
Photographs of Valberg during his training at the Page Corps.
Valberg recalls his life in a military environment (synchronously), photographs of Valberg's father and the regimental holiday.
Photographs of soldiers.
Cadets during horseback riding lessons.
Cadets galloping through Tsarskoye Selo Park.
Views of the streets of St.
Petersburg and the bastions of the Peter and Paul Fortress, with Walberg narrating about the events of the February Revolution in the background.
Monument to Nicholas I on St.
Isaac's Square.
Faces of the students of the Tsarskoye Selo Cadet School.
An officer inspects the cadets' uniforms.
Cadets during a parade inspection.
A cadet unit passes the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo.
Walberg talks about his attitude to the concepts of Motherland, Tsar and Fatherland, about the reasons for refusing to emigrate (synchronously and in the background).
View of an Orthodox church.
1993
Saint Petersburg Leningrad region
Autumn Winter
View of part of the Neva embankment and the bell tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
Windows of one of the palaces.
One of the cadets of the Tsarskoye Selo school at home with his mother and sisters at the tea table.
The cadet and his sister are drinking tea.
The cadet ball on the TV screen, Valberg in a chair in front of the TV, his memories of the life of the corps during the October Revolution are heard in the background.
The building of the former Page Corps in St.
Petersburg.
Pupils of the Tsarskoye Selo cadet school are sitting on the steps of an abandoned building.
The building of an Orthodox church.
Cadets walk past the fence of the church.
Cadets during a memorial service in the church.
Valberg among the parishioners.
The priest conducts the service, reads the remembrance, officers and cadets in the church, a papakha with a cockade in the hand of an officer.
Burning candles.
Memorial plaques with the names of officers who graduated from the Page Corps at different times, a bas-relief of an archangel with a cross.
Valberg delivers a speech to the students of the Tsarskoye Selo Cadet School and the St.
Petersburg Suvorov Military School on the anniversary of the Page Corps (synchronously and off-screen).
The Suvorov students march in a parade formation, Valberg greets them.
The faces of the students of the Tsarskoye Selo Cadet School marching in a parade formation.
The students of the Tsarskoye Selo Cadet School march in formation through the park.
A standard with the monogram of Emperor Nicholas II flutters in the wind.
1993
Saint Petersburg Leningrad region
Winter