One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (Part 1 of 10)

Caspar Wrede's profoundly stark and bleak yet rarely seen adaptation of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's classic novel.

Released in 1970, the film faithfully presents a single day in the life of Ivan Denisovich - superbly portrayed by Tom Courtenay - who is serving a ten year prison sentence in one of Soviet Russia's infamous Siberian gulags.

Category:

Film & Animation

[zombiejon]

@jakdaxter6

You're right. I can't believe these fucking idiots. They go and make one of the best movies ever. Based on one of the greatest books ever written, then they go and fuck it all up by casting an actor that can't pronounce Kolya correctly. Fuck this shit.. they should be shot... I'm not watching the rest of this..

Hi! I'm sarcasm do I know you?

I'm just messing with ya. This movie is great! Read the book too if you have the time.

[greygue]

This opening credit scene is so totally like a sci-fi movie where the space-craft hovers in to dock with the space-station.

Except for the fact the outer-space-station is actually a Siberian Stalinist prison camp, and everyone involved in this narrative is utterly totally doomed.

[JohnPreedy]

I also read the book and saw the film about 40 years ago!

What struck me most forcibly was that Ivan Denisovich, after a day in a life that many people would think was impossible to live through, felt that he had had a good day, It's truly a tribute to the human qualities of adaptability and optimism. It would have been easy to give up and die, but he adapted and survived, just like Solzhenitsyn who went on to leave us, in his literature, an extended testament to the cruelty of Stalin's regime.

[ecnerwal999]

This is what socialism/communism looks like, yet the masses continue to shout for it.

[twobluehorses]

@TheCoopz95 It is valid. Solzhenitsyn was a fine writer and he revealed the true face of a evil society. If you didn't see that when you were assigned the book to read then you either had your eyes closed or indulged in the same willful blindness that kept the Soviet system in power for 70 years.

[TheCoopz95]

@twobluehorses Next time try having a valid opinion

[twobluehorses]

@TheCoopz95 Next time try reading it with your eyes open.

[TheCoopz95]

I have to read this for english and it sucks balls....

[lyrensutz]

Thank you so much for uploading this stark, brilliant film. It's been 39 years since I last saw it. It has haunted me all these years.

[mcleanartists]

Ever clean the heads on your VCR?

[BluesHonkey]

this book is a gem. it is very grim and bleak and harrowing yet there is a fundamental humanity to it that is inexplicably uplifting. i think A.S. was saying that there was truly a socialist impulse for the good in people -- it came out only in the grimmest of conditions. quite a masterful novel

[speculativeboy]

Thank you greatly for this! Haven't seen this film for a long, long time.