The mild mannered and "weak" President of Russia is injured when a hammer falls at a construction site and for two weeks thinks he is Peter the Great. Strangely it works out in the Russian national interest.

SYNOPSIS:

http://www.magicalrealism.us/2014/02/21/the-two-pyotrs-a-political-comedy/ The Two Pyotrs, A Political Comedy Or The National Interest Or Pyotr, President of All Russia Screenplay by Lee A. Miller Pyotr Alexeyev is the mild mannered President of Russia. Ironically he has a name similar to the historic Tzar. The President is happiest in the seclusion of the Kremlin and he is unhappiest in public. He has a loving wife and children. The state of the nation however is stagnant. The nation is making no progress, nor is it sinking into absolute distress. The Russian public is having a crisis of confidence. Elections are looming and a dangerous atheistic political party is threatening to take power. The economy is stagnant. There has been a string of terrorist events and a small military defeat. The nation has suffered embarrassing loses in two Olympics. The Europeans and Americans are becoming aggressive trying to seize Syria to build an alternative gas pipeline from the Middle East to feed Europe. European and American success may come at Russia’s expense. Russia needs decisive leadership, yet there isn’t any. The status quo rules Russia. Even in his own political party, Pyotr’s leadership is in question. His aides attempt to inspire him and present him, on his birthday, with a large biographic volume on Peter the Great. The President is reading the book while his offices are being remodeled. He loves a certain chair in the office (which is symbolic of his “arm chair” presidency); while construction surrounds him in the office, he refuses to leave. The aids attempt to persuade him to read the book in a safer and more quiet room but he refuses. He concludes reading and becomes inspired; he rises from the chair. It appears to be a political epiphany. It looks like he is ready to take bold action in the leadership of the nation. However at this exact time, a workman drops a hammer from above and it strikes the President on the head. We cut to a hospital room; the President is unconscious. The doctors and nurses all have a grave look on their face. Outside in the hall there is a political firestorm. Is the Prime Minister the new President? Should the public be told, what should they be told? What will the allies think and do? Will the Europeans and the Americans take Syria from the Russian sphere of influence? Russia has always had a plethora of enemies. And so when this sort of thing happens, it is feared that a succession crisis might invite aggression. It is implied in the film that the Prime Minister is even more “wishy-washy” than the current President. Russia is in crisis! Fortunately for Russia, the political players out in the hall of the hospital chose to wait. It is agreed that the ministers will operate the government until the President recovers. Russia is fortunate because Pyotr awakes from his comma thinking he is Peter the Great. He speaks to the nurses and doctors in an old Russian. He is confused more with the technology he sees than from any intellectual deficiency. He believes he is Peter the Great and for a few minutes he is confused. He speaks to his wife and children; she leaves the room in tears. He wrecks the hospital room in a rage. He tries to seduce all six nurses. He exhibits some odd behaviors, but people believe it is because of his head injury. The truth is the behavior is odd because he believes that he is the Tsar and was born in 1672. After two days, the presidential aides are pessimistic and are about to agree for the Prime Minister to assume the presidency. However, one particular aid tries to understand he interviews the President thoroughly; he remembers giving the biography on Peter the Great. The aide realizes the President’s state of mind and reasons that it can be used in the national interest. “It might be a good thing if he thinks he is Peter the Great.” There is an interesting debate about Peter’s role in the history of Russia. The President has two high level aides that are with him always and they agree to keep it all a secret for the good of the nation. Even the ministers aren’t told of the nature of the President’s injury. They keep the President secluded and deal with the oddities. They become school teachers and of course Peter the Great was history’s most curious student. They carefully instruct him on necessities of the modern world. They refine his language. Some of the brighter members of the media notice certain similarities and threaten to report that the President has amnesia and believes himself to be Peter the Great. There is the suspense of an investigative reporter. After a few weeks of seclusion and questions from the media and the ministers, the two aides are forced to allow Pyotr to be seen in public. At first he simply waves to the crowds. Then he gives some simple statements for the television cameras. While all Pyotr is reeducated (brought into the 21st century) by his aids, the President is beginning to question his own identity. His children, wife and family films and scrapbooks begin to pry upon his memory. The aides now must now hide the fact that he isn’t really Peter the Great. They reason that if the old President is restored they Russia will sink again into despair. They try to isolate him from his family and from scrapbook and other records. The drama mid-movie is the question of when he emerges from his mental malady will he revert to the old weak President? Slowly, Pyotr warms to the office. He begins to be more like Peter the Great. He becomes independent and autocratic. He throws written speeches into the crowds and expounds on Russian greatness. The President faces down the dangerous atheistic political party and puts them in their place. He revives the economy by shopping and consuming constantly. Everyone wants to buy what the President is seen buying on television. He makes patriotic speech in the boardrooms of the Russian corporations. He wows the oligarchs, drinking with them and controlling them by virtue of his over whelming personality. He hunts the terrorist. He revives the military. He inspires the Olympic athletes. He gets into a few near fistfights with judges at international sporting events. . The status quo no longer rules Russia. Near the conclusion of the film, the President learns and reasons that that he is not Peter the Great. He has learned from the love of his family and from the official state biography of the President who he really is. The President has befriended a journalist and the journalist shows him all of the news stories about his election and policies before the accident. The President keeps this realization to himself. The reporter doesn’t publish anything about the matter. As the Americans and Europeans push Russia in Syria, the nation looks to the President for leadership. The President stops the European American military aggression in the Syria. He acts boldly in Russia’s national interest. The American and Europeans back down. All doubts about the President disappear. The confidence of the Russian people is restored. Finally in the last scene of the film, the President admits to his aides that he realized he was no longer Peter the Great just before he threw his speech into the audience. It seems the entire incident has transformed the President and he does not return to being the mild mannered President. THE END

THE TWO PYOTRS

http://www.magicalrealism.us/2014/02/21/