Yego prevoskhoditelstvo

Also known as His Excellency, Seeds of Freedom was another of director Grigori Roshal’s explorations of the plight of the Jewish populace in pre-revolutionary Russia. The story pits an aggressively anti-Semitic provincial governor (L.M. Leonidoff) against a tenacious rabbi. Because the latter refuses to resort to violence, the governor is allowed to perpetrate any number of atrocities with impunity. Finally, the rabbi’s non-aggression policies are overruled by a faction of rebellious Jewish socialists, who ultimately bring about the despotic governor’s demise. A romantic subplot is introduced when the rabbi’s free-spirited daughter defiantly falls in love with one of the socialist leaders.