God Loves Caviar

2012

1h 39m

Adventure

Biography

List

Reviews

44%

50+ Ratings

Audience Score

The life of Ioannis Varvakis and his journey from piracy to international caviar millionaire with the ear of Catherine the Great of Russia.

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Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

The kind of film that would most assuredly win many Razzies if the Razzie Awards were actually about the worst films of the year.

Rated: .5/4.0

Sep 9, 2020

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Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

It respects neither your intelligence nor your time.

Aug 5, 2019

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Audience Member

Heck of a lot better than RT rating ! Not gangbusters but quite good - especially for a Greek/Russian project. A good period-piece of an important person in Greece and Russia history. Yet, perhaps exactly for that reason, not popular with American and central-Europe audience - who wouldn't know about the man. Western distributors changed name from 'God loves Caviar' to 'The Pirate' for marketing - but it was not a 'swashbuckler' and folks disappointed. Recommend

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

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Audience Member

Aims high in being a large scale movie of importance

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

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Audience Member

Director: Yannis Varagdis With Sebastian Koch, John Cleese It is a dramatization of the life of a Greek historical figure - Ioannis Varvakis (1745-1825). He began as a 17 year old pirate on the Aegean, attacking Turkish merchant ships for booty and much praised by his fellow Greek countryman, who at the time were under the oppressive yoke of the Ottoman Empire. His fame brings him to the attention of Catherine the Great of Russia who hires him to open up the Caspian Sea for Russian-Ottoman trade. There he prospers, first with simple fish then gains exclusive rights to trade in caviar. He discovers a way to preserve the fish eggs allowing them to be carried to distant markets. Many Honours are bestowed upon him by Catherine and soon he is a millionaire. He is also a great philanthropist and invests in schools in Greece and a monastery. The one thing that baffles me is the inaccuracy in the story of Tzar Paul - Catherine became the ruler of Russia after the assassination of Paul - she was married to him! How could the script writers get this detail wrong? Years pass successfully, but he hankers to go back to Greece once more and after the death of his grown up son, he gives his wealth over to his daughter who is with him in Russia and travels back to Greece to help in the 1821 revolution and civil war. Once again he is seen as a hero in the country but is too divisive a figure for the new government to handle. Thus he is kept in isolation on a remote British Greek island Zakynthos, where he eventually dies. It is too sentimental at times - the character is obviously well regarded by the director. It also flips fairly quickly through the episodes of his life so the film is effectively a sketch rather than an exploration of an extraordinary character.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

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Audience Member

Not very interesting.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

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Audience Member

Very impressive movie from a greek director. Gorgeous settings and wardrobe and a solid cast and expert direction

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

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Audience Member

Could have been a masterpiece... to tell the truth...

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/12/23

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Yannis Smaragdis

Director

Sebastian Koch

Varvakis

Juan Diego Botto

Lefentarios

Olga Sutulova

Helena

John Cleese

McCormick

Catherine Deneuve

Empress Catherine II of Russia

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Synopsis

The life of Ioannis Varvakis and his journey from piracy to international caviar millionaire with the ear of Catherine the Great of Russia.

Director: Yannis Smaragdis
Screenwriter: Yannis Smaragdis, Jackie Pavlenko, Vladimir Valutskiy, Panagiotis Pashidis
Production Co: Alexandros Film, Stella Studio
Genre: Adventure, Biography
Original Language: Greek
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 1, 2016
Runtime: 1h 39m

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