The Kremlin has turned to a tumultuous period in Russian history to foster a subliminal loyalty to President Vladimir Putin and erase the memory of a Communist national holiday.

The event, an uprising in 1612 that drove a Polish-Lithuanian army out of Moscow, is romanticised in a new blockbuster film that detractors have compared to Soviet-era propaganda.

It showcases key ideas being pushed by the Kremlin at a time when it faces parliamentary and presidential elections: the necessity of strong leadership; treacherous foreigners; and the importance of patriotism.

The film, 1612, was released to coincide with a relatively new November 4 national holiday created by Putin to celebrate National Unity Day.

The bank holiday was introduced in 2005 to replace the traditional Soviet November 7 national holiday that marked the Bolshevik revolution.

Aimed at teenage cinemagoers, the film was commissioned by the Kremlin and retells the uprising of 1612 in a style reminiscent of Lord Of The Rings complete with a unicorn, a love story, and a decisive battle of good versus evil.

The events it is based upon marked a turning point in Russian history. During the so-called "time of troubles" in the early 17th century, Moscow slipped into lawlessness, foreign armies vied for control, famine stalked the land, and the tsardom lacked any leadership.

The chaos in Moscow ended after an uprising drove the foreign invaders out, setting the stage for the Romanov dynasty to rule Russia for the next 300 years. Mikhail Romanov was crowned tsar in 1613, heralding the arrival of a period of Russian expansion.

Putin's aides are keen to promote the idea that the events of 1612 have been replayed almost 400 years later.

Post-Soviet Russia's "time of troubles" was, they say, the anarchic 1990s when Boris Yeltsin presided over a weak criminalised state heavily influenced by Washington. And of course it is Putin, they say, who is the country's latter-day tsar who has restored order and banished treacherous foreign influence.

The film was in part bankrolled by oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, the man who in 2004 bought nine Fabergé eggs in the US so they could be repatriated.

"It's important for me that the audience feel pride," said director Vladimir Khotinenko. "That they didn't regard it as something that happened in ancient history but as a recent event. That they felt the link between what happened 400 years ago and today."

But liberals claim it is part of an attempt to mythologise parts of the country's history to build an aggressive new national identity that takes the "good bits" from the tsarist and Communist eras. They also argue it is a subliminal party political broadcast.

"The picture ends with the election of Mikhail Romanov and the appearance of a glorious new tsarist dynasty," wrote Russian Newsweek.

"We also have elections. We also have a glorious new dynasty. So the film is also hinting who and why we should choose for the good of Russia."

Going into parliamentary elections on December 4, Putin has put himself at the top of the Kremlin-allied party United Russia's list, turning the vote into a referendum on his almost eight years of power. The party is expected to win almost 70% of the vote on the back of his phenomenal popularity.

But Putin has a problem. The constitution prevents him from running for a third consecutive term. That prospect has Russia's elite in panic. Leading political figures have called on him to change the constitution and stay on, and in recent weeks the country has been gripped by rallies begging him to remain president.

One of the most famous members of the film's production team has made it clear which way he wants things to go.

Nikita Mikhalkov, whose 2004 film Burnt By The Son won an Oscar for best foreign film, has penned a public letter with other cultural figures to Putin urging him to stay on. "Russia needs your talents and wisdom," the letter said.

So far, 1612 has received mixed reviews, with one critic calling it "Russian trash". But its ideological genus and message have drawn the most scorn.

"With the help of culture you can create simplified versions of reality that are hugely beneficial to government," wrote historian Igor Dolutskii. Film directors had become, he added, representatives "of the oldest profession in the world".