that the secret police, the NKVD, are to blame for their imprisonment; once the high officials in Moscow hear the truth, they will all be released.
Kornev sets forth on a train to the capital. He is determined to meet with the procurator general of the Soviet Union, Andrey Vyshinsky( Anatoliy Beliy). Kornev is convinced that Vyshinsky will be eager to investigate such a massive abuse of power once he has heard Stepniak’ s story and has seen the desperate note written in blood.
The film is adapted from the 1969 book of the same name by physicist and Gulag survivor Georgy Demidov. The mood is somber and devastatingly slow. We watch Kornev interact with a number of characters, some Kafkaesque: the menacing prison warden, the crusty old soldier with the wooden leg( also played by Aleksandr Filippenko), and the dazed, terrified man on the stairs in the procurator general’ s building who keeps whispering to Kornev, wanting to know where the exit is.
Kornev takes the train back to the prison in Bryansk following the procurator general’ s instructions to find more evidence. Kornev rides in a compartment with two businessmen( Valentin Novopolskij, Dmitrij Denisiuk), who he first suspects could be NKVD agents, but after some drinks and an impromptu musical performance he becomes trusting, relaxed, and more confident than ever that he’ ll find justice for Stepniak.
For the audience, there are no surprises, no suspense— just waiting and watching, in slow motion, a lamb being led to the slaughter. The closing scene is reminiscent of the first; the camera focuses on the massive iron prison gate as Kornev once again enters. This time he has shed his innocence, idealism, and most frightening of all, his freedom.
CURRENTS 59