One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

This movie should be re released. Courteney is marvellous. The desperation is palpable. Those who deny what Communism leads to should watch and learn.

This movie is has a serious visual impact. I still feel chilled to the bone and very hungry every time I think about this film. A very realistic portrayal of life in the Soviet prison camp system. I understand that the film was shot where the temperatures were in the 20 degrees F and that Tom Courtney had gone on a serious diet before filming. It is very sobering to see this almost emaciated actor with his breath freezing in front of his face. The scene in the mess hall of the meager diet of the prisoner will leave you with hunger pangs.

I'm surprised this film has not received more attention. It has been a long time since I have seen this movie, so I cannot remember how well developed the plot was. However, this is one of only a handful of films that made me feel like I was there.

Having read the book, and being an amateur Sovietologist who studied Russian, I will state that this movie (which I haven't seen in 40 years, I will admit) does a tremendous job of bringing the book to life. The only scenes in the movie that I recall were not in the Book were the one where it shows the Captain starting his spell in the punishment cell, and a scene where a prisoner is receiving a package from home (which I won't spoil for you.). Once I got over the actors speaking in English and Norwegian accents-which I realized are better than "movie Russian" accents I found myself a "fly on the wall" and seeing things through Solzhenitsyn's eyes. The opening and closing credits where the camp first appears as a white light against a black landscape are an excellent use of artistic license to convey the isolation of the GULAG camps-and of the prisoners. And their guards.

This film portrays one day in the life of one prisoner of the Soviet Gulag. It wasn't a particularly special day. The sense of hopelessness shown in Shukov's day is very moving. The book won the Nobel Prize for literature and the film is loyal to the book. I have been looking for a copy of this film for my own personal collection for years, and will continue to do so.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who wrote "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" on which this film was based, is one of my heroes. He suffered greatly under Soviet dictatorship and had the courage to risk his life by writing of his experiences. His work brought world attention to the plight of the many thousands of Soviet citizens unjustly imprisoned in Stalin's era and beyond.

In 1974, the Soviet government deported Solzhenitsyn after publication in the West of "The Gulag Archipelago", his major work exposing the Soviet prison system. He made his way to the U.S. where he lived for eighteen years. His citizenship was restored shortly after the breakup of the Soviet Union, and he returned to Russia in 1994.

I found "One Day in the Life. . ." most depressing as I absorbed it, but I didn't seek it out to be entertained. The subject matter was of course not pleasant, but the fact that this is a realistic depiction of what Soviet prisoners experienced makes it an important historical work.

Though I saw this film over thirty years ago, I still remember the surprising reaction that engulfed me when leaving the theater. My husband and I walked to the car in silence. When we were seated inside the car I turned to him and said words to this effect: "I have a strange sense of well-being and. . .comfort, or. . .triumph or something." He said, "So do I." We sat there for a few moments, rather surprised at this because the film was so depressing.

We came to the conclusion that the main character and many of the other prisoners, maintained and conveyed an awareness of their own human dignity despite the severe hardship and hopelessness of their days. They did this by respecting each other, sharing some of the very meager food or other items they had and carrying on their agonizing work with quiet acceptance. There were exceptions, no doubt, which I don't recall specifically. But, overall, the triumph of the human spirit came through clearly.

This film enriched our lives by making us grateful for our freedoms and the abundance of resources we enjoy here in the United States. In the current state of the world, we can take none of these things for granted.