1998, 104 min, colour, BETACAM SP, Stereo
Studio Nadezda

scenario: A. Sokurov
camera: A. Degtyarev, A. Fedorov
sound: S. Moshkov
producer: S. Voloshina

The film includes shots of Solzhenitsyn's monologues and his dialogues with Sokurov about Russian literature and language, about folklore and sense of creative work, about history and modern times. Some of the writer's statements, polemic and non-trivial, are themselves documents of Russian culture.

The filmmaker here is not a commentator but a medium of the society's certain need in a dialogue with a man of authoritative word and selfless destiny.

Alexandra Tuchinskaya

English translation by Anna Shoulgat, © 2002.