Whistles blow for The Last Station

A European drama centering on the last year in the life of the renowned Russian writer, Count Leo Tolstoy, “The Last Station”, has scored five nominations for the 25th Spirit Awards.

The awards are a key part of the independent film community around the globe.

A co-production of Germany, Russia and the UK – the biopic has earned nods for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Female Lead and Best Supporting Male.

A multi-national crew worked on the film about the leading light of Russian literature. Based on a novel by an American writer, it was brought together by a German director, with a British actress of Russian origin and a Canadian-born actor in the lead.

Winners of the Spirit Awards will be announced on March 5, in Los Angeles, just two days prior to the Oscars.

Film buffs who have already had a chance to watch “The Last Station” say it is a larger-than-life cast – Helen Mirren in the role of Tolstoy’s wife Sofia and Christopher Plummer as the author of “War and Peace” – who make the drama stand out.

A fusion of love and politics, “The Last Station” is based on James Parini’s novel, which he reportedly wrote after coming across Tolstoy’s secretary’s memoirs. Inspired by Valentin Bulgakov’s writings, as well as the diaries of several other members of the writer’s household, Parini wrote his own account of Tolstoy’s last days, which he spent at Astapovo settlement – literally his last station – where he died in 1910.