Comedy of the Strict Regime

The year is 1970 and the Soviet Union is preparing to mark the centenary of Lenin’s birth. Not wanting to be left behind, the commander of a prison camp decides to have the prisoners stage a play about Lenin’s life. Once the rehearsals begin the whole order of the camp is turned upside down; the prisoners notice the freedom the parts have given them and start thinking of turning it into a chance to escape. The film sets the language of official ceremony beside the reality of a prison and makes both of them look ridiculous. The account also keeps in view what playing a part does to the men: for a few weeks the prisoners become people who speak, rehearse and are listened to. Viktor Sukhorukov plays the lead in the seventy eight minute film by Vladimir Studennikov and Mikhail Grigoriev, completed in 1992.