Retinend I think this is one of the best films never to be watched. Despite an epic scope, artistic eye and emotional power in the storytelling, the film never found an audience and it's hard to find the film with English subtitles although it was an English co- production. I had to watch it with German subtitles, and the subtitles were frustratingly absent for more than a handful of lines spoken in Russian. The story begins in Iran in the immediate wake of WW2, where the lover of the Shah's wife is granted permission to continue an archaeological excavation over the requests of the Russian army to use the same space for artillery training. The Russians eliminate this threat by abducting the archaeologist, Andrew Miller, and sending him to the secret police, who interrogate him and judge him a spy. Despite realising they have captured the wrong man halfway through the case, they decide to cover their mistakes by sending him to Siberia anyway.Thus begins a descent into hell, temporarily relieved by a romance with a female doctor, which when discovered only unleashes the jealous revenge of the camp warden. Along the way we see the state of Stalinist society: money is worthless and so people engage in direct bartering. The only entertainment is violence and sordid sexuality. Left so ignorant, the Russians cannot distinguish an Englishman from an American; calling Americans "fascists", and their idea of intellectual debate is to argue the merits of various past party figures.The film covers ugly subject matter yet is beautiful in its execution. All the mud, the sweaty wood hut walls, the barbed wire, the worn out clothes, the creaky wire frame beds and sallow, sunken faces of the inmates are captured in realistic detail. In spite of the mood of pervasive hopelessness, my emotional investment was maintained by the glimpses of humanity in the inhuman surroundings: a young girl, who gave help to the dying Miller on his first day, is saved by Miller after being left breathing in a morgue by unfeeling camp guards. Miller befriends a like minded young intellectual and teaches him English after being saved by him from a sudden suicidal drive. At first bullied by the camp fool, Miller regains his manhood and asserts his self-respect. Though the beautiful young widow, Anna, must prostitute herself to the camp warden for her own political safety she finds a fleeting love in Miller. In a moving scene towards the end, after being summoned back to the secret police HQ in Moscow, Miller rediscovers his dignity and becomes human again upon learning of a chance bargaining chip: a forgotten ally had somehow escaped the gulags and made a point to bring the scrutiny of the world upon Andrew Miller's abuse.The film does an interesting trick towards the end, first allowing you the relief of seeing this delivery from evil, but then subjecting you to the cruellest possible emotional reversal - seeing this amnesty taken back in front of your eyes (a striking scene involving the ghosts of the gulag entering the glittering ballroom of the upper crust) - before finally awakening for a second time to allow you to feel relief again. Juxtoposed with this strange double-awakening is a scene of a drunken secret police head turning the choice over in his mind. The impression of the tyranny of evil men, spinning the fate of their victims between their paws, is unforgettable.If you speak German, please search for this film under the name "Gulag: Straflager Der Verdammten." It's also apparently available in Polish, if you speak that language.

Boris_G I only discovered this film through becoming fascinated with the music of Leonid Desyatnikov (who also scored 'Prisoners of the Mountains'), and being intrigued by the fact it stars and was produced by Anthony Andrews (of Brideshead Revisited fame). I first tracked down a Danish VHS copy, which inevitably was subtitled in Danish throughout; unfortunately the film, though some of it is in English, is mostly in Russian. I got a fair impression from the Danish version, though, realising that it was excellently filmed and well acted, and the music extremely effective and - in a quite unconventional (for film music) way - highly touching, especially when following the fortunes of the young but very feisty Lilka.The story, on one level, is about the appalling fate of an English archaeologist, Andrew (aka Andrei) Miller, who is mistaken for an American spy by Stalin's secret police, captured and tortured. When they realise their mistake, they try to conceal it by having Miller sent off to a gulag in Siberia. The grim conditions and the cruelty, not least from fellow prisoners, is believably portrayed. But, like a small oasis, there is kindness in the form of the young girl Lilka, and the female doctor in the camp, Anna, who originally came there to follow her husband when he was sentenced for some unspecified political deviancy.I am loathe to give a 'spoiler' here, but what I'm going to write in this paragraph may give some of the plot away, so be warned. The Danish version of the film I saw had a suitably downbeat ending. This is largely mitigated in the English version I eventually traced (a second-hand VHS tape) which - unlike the Danish version - has an intrusive voice-over by Andrew Miller at the start whose need is only clear when the voice-over appears at the very end of the film to effectively reassure the audience that he survives to tell the tale at the end 'to ensure that this does not happen again' - a fatuous statement and one which strongly jars with the thrust of the film. I assume this voice-over was put in after some negative previews (studios seem very nervous of audiences' reactions to films which end on a 'downer'). But even with this, the film still comes across most powerfully, and with the English subtitles I was better able to appreciate the initially far from amiable relationship between Lilka and Anna. This is definitely a film worth hunting for, and I very much hope it will one day see the light on a commercial DVD release. The only reason I hesitate to give it absolute top marks is the slight hint of staginess in the final scenes of the film (though this possibly makes sense if one accepts that it reflects Andrew/Andrei's loosening grip on reality). END OF POTENTIAL SPOILERAltogether an excellent film which deserves far wider exposure.

BAS/NL Hard but realistic movie about an English researcher who goes innocent to the prison camps during Stalin. Professionally made on location in Russia, good acting, and made on a grand scale. Shows how horrible and idiotic the regime under Stalin was. Out of a 10 point rating : 8

wacd The film is about British archaeologist, who's arrested by Stalin's secret police. It shows the mechanisms of Gulags (Russian concentration camps) and the impression from it was really authentic and awful. It was a nightmare! But there was also an unbelievable love story... The direction was brilliant, actors were brilliant and the film had a some poetry deep inside, the light of humanity, with which a man can resist the bad and harsh power. You won't believe the story if you don't know something about era of Stalinism and communism.