Une journée d'Ivan Denissovitch

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

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 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.

This is not a review (as such) about Ivan Denisovich, more a counter to the comments made by a previous reviewer. I find it unbelievable that Mr. Dabell could complain about the film being boring with, as he puts it, "sparse stretches with barely any dialogue and barely any events begin to tire the viewer." What did Mr Dabell expect? A series of comic sketches, interspersed with some witty banter as the inmates hopped and skipped their way through the snow to their place of work? I saw the film back in the 70s and have not seen it since. It made such an impact on me that I have never forgotten it; I have tried to get a copy for many years, alas without success. I do remember the feeling of utter hopelessness, of futility coming through in the film. Feelings that I'm sure were felt by the actual inmates of such prisons back in those days. Escape was impossible. Where to? Certain death obviously, so any talk of digging tunnels, forging papers and planning escape routes (a la The Great Escape) were a complete waste of time. The film was true to the book and (what's more important in my eyes) true to the spirit of the times about which the book was written. If Mr Dabell found the film boring, maybe he should look to himself, maybe it's because Mr Dabell is a boring person. I would recommend anyone, with a spark of humanity, sit down and watch this film. You won't be disappointed, unless of course you happen to be a complete bore.

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.