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{{short description|1992 film}}
{{short description|1992 film}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox film
{{Infobox film
| name = The Chekist
| name = The Chekist
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}}


'''''The Chekist''''' ({{lang-ru|Чекист}}) is a 1992 Russian-French [[Dystopia|dystopian]] [[drama film]] directed by [[Aleksandr Rogozhkin]], based on a 1923 short story by Vladimir Zazubrin. It tells the story of a bloody work and downfall of a Soviet [[Cheka]] security official involved in mass executions during the [[Russian Civil War]].
'''''The Chekist''''' ({{langx|ru|Чекист}}) is a 1992 Russian-French historical [[drama film]] directed by [[Aleksandr Rogozhkin]], based on a 1923 short story by Vladimir Zazubrin. It tells the story of a bloody work and downfall of a Soviet [[Cheka]] security official involved in mass executions during the [[Russian Civil War]]. It was screened in the [[Un Certain Regard]] section at the [[1992 Cannes Film Festival]].<ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/65/year/1992.html|title=Tchekiste|work=[[Cannes Film Festival]]|language=fr|trans-title=The Chekist|accessdate=16 August 2009}}</ref>


==Plot==
==Plot==
The film is set during the [[Russian Civil War]] in the period of the [[Red Terror]]. In a provincial [[Cheka]] (the All-Russian Emergency Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage) office in an unnamed small town, a routine bureaucratic work is taking place. Every day, a [[NKVD troika|Cheka troika]] tribunal made of director Srubov and his assistants Pepel and Katz reads out a long list of all kinds of real and perceived [[Counter-revolutionary|counter-revolutionaries]] and [[class enemies]]. Those arrested are always immediately found guilty and the sentence, regardless of the accusation, gender and age of the person, is the same - to be shot.
The film is set during the [[Russian Civil War]] in the period of the [[Red Terror]]. In a provincial [[Cheka]] (the All-Russian Emergency Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage) office in an unnamed small town, routine bureaucratic work is taking place. Every day, a [[NKVD troika|Cheka troika]] tribunal made of director Srubov and his assistants Pepel and Katz reads out a long list of all kinds of real and perceived [[Counter-revolutionary|counter-revolutionaries]] and [[class enemies]]. Those arrested are always immediately found guilty and the sentence, regardless of the accusation, gender and age of the person, is the same – to be shot.


The terrible conveyor of death operates in the basement, overseen by Srubov: the prisoners are systematically taken out of their cell, ordered to undress, placed against the wall in fives, and shot, usually in the back of the head. Following the secret killings, the naked corpses are then dragged by feet through a special window in the cellar, loaded into a truck, and taken away, to forever disappear without a trace.
The terrible conveyor of death operates in the basement, overseen by Srubov: the prisoners are systematically taken out of their cell, ordered to undress, placed against the wall in fives, and shot, usually in the back of the head. Following the secret killings, the naked corpses are then dragged by feet through a special window in the cellar, loaded into a truck, and taken away, to forever disappear without a trace.


Srubov, a young man from an intelligentsia family, philosophically talks of the historical necessity of extermination in the service of the [[October Revolution|Bolshevik Revolution]]. He is highly organised, dutiful, ruthless, and absolutely loyal to the cause. Eventually, however, pangs of conscience become so unbearable to Srubov that, after his own father is shot by his Cheka comrade and personal friend Katz, he experiences a nervous breakdown and is committed to a mental asylum. Medical examination reveals a [[Stigmata|stigma]] in the shape of a bullet scar on the back of his head. In a sequence ominously similar to the executions, he is ordered to undress, placed against the wall, and sprayed with water from a hose.
Srubov, a young man from an intellectual family, philosophically talks of the historical necessity of extermination in the service of the [[October Revolution|Bolshevik Revolution]]. He is highly organised, dutiful, ruthless, and absolutely loyal to the cause. Eventually, however, pangs of conscience become so unbearable to Srubov that, after his own father is shot by his Cheka comrade and personal friend Katz, he experiences a nervous breakdown and is committed to a mental asylum. Medical examination reveals a [[Stigmata|stigma]] in the shape of a bullet scar on the back of his head. In a sequence ominously similar to the executions, he is ordered to undress, placed against the wall, and sprayed with water from a hose.


==Cast==
==Cast==
Line 42: Line 42:


==History==
==History==
''The Chekist'' was adapted by Jacques Baynac from Vladimir Zazubrin's short story "''Щепка''" (known variably in English as "Sliver", "The Splinter", or "The Chip"), which was written in 1923 but has remained unpublished until the [[Glasnost]] era in 1989 when it was printed in the journal ''Sibirskie Ogni''. Zazubrin, a former [[Bolsheviks|Bolshevik]] infiltrator of the [[Okhrana]] and veteran of both sides of the Civil War, himself fell victim to the [[Great Purge]] and was himself arrested and executed in 1937, along with Valerian Pravdukhin who wrote the preface for the original intended publication.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Zywert|first=Aleksandra|date=2015|title=Krwawa karuzela (Władimir Zazubrin, „Drzazga”)|url=https://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/strp/article/view/4955|journal=Studia Rossica Posnaniensia|language=pl|volume=40|issue=1|pages=83–92|doi=10.14746/strp.2015.40.1.9|issn=0081-6884|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Jastrzębska|first=Katarzyna|date=2010|title=Wampiry rewolucji („Drzazga” Władimira Zazubrina)|url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=550293|journal=Przegląd Rusycystyczny|language=Polish|volume=2|issue=130|pages=21–30|issn=0137-298X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lGjcyY_ICYgC&pg=PA141&lpg=PA141|title=Dystopian Fiction East and West: Universe of Terror and Trial|last=Gottlieb|first=Erika|date=2001|publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP|isbn=9780773522060|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45163861-lasca|title=Lasca|website=www.goodreads.com|access-date=2019-05-27}}</ref>
''The Chekist'' was adapted by Jacques Baynac from Vladimir Zazubrin's short story "''Щепка''" (known variably in English as "Sliver", "The Splinter", or "The Chip"), which was written in 1923 but has remained unpublished until the [[Glasnost]] era in 1989 when it was printed in the journal ''Sibirskie Ogni''. Zazubrin, a former [[Bolsheviks|Bolshevik]] infiltrator of the [[Okhrana]] and veteran of both sides of the Civil War, himself fell victim to the [[Great Purge]] and was himself arrested and executed in 1937, along with Valerian Pravdukhin<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45163861-lasca|title=Lasca|website=goodreads.com|access-date=27 May 2019}}</ref> who wrote the preface for the original intended publication.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Zywert|first=Aleksandra|date=2015|title=Krwawa karuzela (Władimir Zazubrin, "Drzazga")|url=https://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/strp/article/view/4955|journal=Studia Rossica Posnaniensia|language=pl|volume=40|issue=1|pages=83–92|doi=10.14746/strp.2015.40.1.9|issn=0081-6884|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Jastrzębska|first=Katarzyna|date=2010|title=Wampiry rewolucji ("Drzazga" Władimira Zazubrina)|url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=550293|journal=Przegląd Rusycystyczny|language=Polish|volume=2|issue=130|pages=21–30|issn=0137-298X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lGjcyY_ICYgC&pg=PA141|title=Dystopian Fiction East and West: Universe of Terror and Trial|last=Gottlieb|first=Erika|date=2001|publisher=McGill-Queen's Press|isbn=9780773522060|language=en}}</ref>

⚫
The film was produced by Oleg Konkov and Guy Seligman for the French TV [[Arte|ARTE]]. It was screened in the [[Un Certain Regard]] section at the [[1992 Cannes Film Festival]].<ref name="festival-cannes.com"/>


⚫
The film was produced by Oleg Konkov and Guy Seligman for the French TV [[Arte|ARTE]]. It was screened in the [[Un Certain Regard]] section at the [[1992 Cannes Film Festival]].<ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/65/year/1992.html|title=Tchekiste|work=[[Cannes Film Festival]]|language=fr|trans-title=The Chekist|accessdate=16 August 2009}}</ref>
== Reception ==
== Reception ==
Piers Handling, director of the [[Toronto International Film Festival]], said of the film: "[[Aleksandr Rogozhkin|Rogozhkin]] eventually penetrates into the psychotic mind of the Chekist with a moment of sublime insight, reminiscent of [[Bernardo Bertolucci|Bertolucci]]'s equally disturbing portrait of the fascist killer in ''[[The Conformist (film)|The Conformist]]''. ''The Chekist'' is an overwhelming cry in the face of such madness."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cinemaparallel.com/Rogo.html|title=Rogozhkin|work=cinemaparallel.com|accessdate=23 June 2015}}</ref>
Piers Handling, director of the [[Toronto International Film Festival]], said of the film: "[[Aleksandr Rogozhkin|Rogozhkin]] eventually penetrates into the psychotic mind of the Chekist with a moment of sublime insight, reminiscent of [[Bernardo Bertolucci|Bertolucci]]'s equally disturbing portrait of the fascist killer in ''[[The Conformist (film)|The Conformist]]''. ''The Chekist'' is an overwhelming cry in the face of such madness."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cinemaparallel.com/Rogo.html|title=Rogozhkin|work=cinemaparallel.com|accessdate=23 June 2015}}</ref>
Line 52: Line 53:


==External links==
==External links==
*{{imdb title|id=0103949|title=The Chekist}}
*{{IMDb title|id=0103949|title=The Chekist}}
*[http://www.lib.ru/RUSSLIT/ZAZUBRIN/shepka.txt Original short story in Russian]
*[http://www.lib.ru/RUSSLIT/ZAZUBRIN/shepka.txt Original short story in Russian]
*[https://seance.ru/n/27-28/perekrestok-2/rogojkin/chekist/ Russian reviews]
*[[Valery Kichin (journalist)|Valery Kichin]]. ''[https://seance.ru/n/27-28/perekrestok-2/rogojkin/chekist/ Russian reviews]''


{{DEFAULTSORT:Chekist, The}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chekist, The}}
[[Category:1992 films]]
[[Category:1992 films]]
[[Category:1990s drama films]]
[[Category:1992 drama films]]
[[Category:Dystopian films]]
[[Category:1990s dystopian films]]
[[Category:French drama films]]
[[Category:1990s war drama films]]
[[Category:French war films]]
[[Category:French war drama films]]
[[Category:Russian Civil War films]]
[[Category:Russian Civil War films]]
[[Category:Russian drama films]]
[[Category:Russian war drama films]]
[[Category:Russian films]]
[[Category:Russian-language war drama films]]
[[Category:Russian war films]]
[[Category:1990s Russian films]]
[[Category:Russian-language films]]
[[Category:1990s Russian-language films]]
[[Category:Films based on short fiction]]
[[Category:Films based on short fiction]]
[[Category:Films directed by Aleksandr Rogozhkin]]
[[Category:Films directed by Aleksandr Rogozhkin]]
[[Category:1990s French films]]
[[Category:Films about Soviet repression]]
[[Category:1992 science fiction films]]

Latest revision as of 14:33, 5 November 2024

The Chekist
Film poster
Directed byAleksandr Rogozhkin
Written byJacques Baynac
Story byVladimir Zazubrin
Produced byOleg Konkov
Guy Seligman
StarringIgor Sergeyev
CinematographyValeri Myulgaut
Edited byTamara Denisova
Music byDmitry Pavlov
Release date
  • 1992 (1992)
Running time
91 minutes
CountriesRussia
France
LanguageRussian

The Chekist (Russian: Чекист) is a 1992 Russian-French historical drama film directed by Aleksandr Rogozhkin, based on a 1923 short story by Vladimir Zazubrin. It tells the story of a bloody work and downfall of a Soviet Cheka security official involved in mass executions during the Russian Civil War. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.[1]

Plot

[edit]

The film is set during the Russian Civil War in the period of the Red Terror. In a provincial Cheka (the All-Russian Emergency Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage) office in an unnamed small town, routine bureaucratic work is taking place. Every day, a Cheka troika tribunal made of director Srubov and his assistants Pepel and Katz reads out a long list of all kinds of real and perceived counter-revolutionaries and class enemies. Those arrested are always immediately found guilty and the sentence, regardless of the accusation, gender and age of the person, is the same – to be shot.

The terrible conveyor of death operates in the basement, overseen by Srubov: the prisoners are systematically taken out of their cell, ordered to undress, placed against the wall in fives, and shot, usually in the back of the head. Following the secret killings, the naked corpses are then dragged by feet through a special window in the cellar, loaded into a truck, and taken away, to forever disappear without a trace.

Srubov, a young man from an intellectual family, philosophically talks of the historical necessity of extermination in the service of the Bolshevik Revolution. He is highly organised, dutiful, ruthless, and absolutely loyal to the cause. Eventually, however, pangs of conscience become so unbearable to Srubov that, after his own father is shot by his Cheka comrade and personal friend Katz, he experiences a nervous breakdown and is committed to a mental asylum. Medical examination reveals a stigma in the shape of a bullet scar on the back of his head. In a sequence ominously similar to the executions, he is ordered to undress, placed against the wall, and sprayed with water from a hose.

Cast

[edit]
  • Igor Sergeyev as Andrey Pavlovich Srubov
  • Aleksei Poluyan as Ian Karlovich Pepel
  • Mikhail Vasserbaum as Isaac "Isa" Katz
  • Sergey Isavnin as Khudonogov
  • Vasili Domrachyov as Solomin
  • Aleksandr Medvedev as Mudynya
  • Aleksandr Kharashkevich as Boje
  • Igor Golovin as the commandant
  • Nina Usatova as the cleaner
  • Sergey Migitsko as Captain Klimenko's relative

History

[edit]

The Chekist was adapted by Jacques Baynac from Vladimir Zazubrin's short story "Щепка" (known variably in English as "Sliver", "The Splinter", or "The Chip"), which was written in 1923 but has remained unpublished until the Glasnost era in 1989 when it was printed in the journal Sibirskie Ogni. Zazubrin, a former Bolshevik infiltrator of the Okhrana and veteran of both sides of the Civil War, himself fell victim to the Great Purge and was himself arrested and executed in 1937, along with Valerian Pravdukhin[2] who wrote the preface for the original intended publication.[3][4][5]

The film was produced by Oleg Konkov and Guy Seligman for the French TV ARTE. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.[1]

Reception

[edit]

Piers Handling, director of the Toronto International Film Festival, said of the film: "Rogozhkin eventually penetrates into the psychotic mind of the Chekist with a moment of sublime insight, reminiscent of Bertolucci's equally disturbing portrait of the fascist killer in The Conformist. The Chekist is an overwhelming cry in the face of such madness."[6]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Tchekiste" [The Chekist]. Cannes Film Festival (in French). Retrieved 16 August 2009.
  2. ^ "Lasca". goodreads.com. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  3. ^ Zywert, Aleksandra (2015). "Krwawa karuzela (Władimir Zazubrin, "Drzazga")". Studia Rossica Posnaniensia (in Polish). 40 (1): 83–92. doi:10.14746/strp.2015.40.1.9. ISSN 0081-6884.
  4. ^ Jastrzębska, Katarzyna (2010). "Wampiry rewolucji ("Drzazga" Władimira Zazubrina)". Przegląd Rusycystyczny (in Polish). 2 (130): 21–30. ISSN 0137-298X.
  5. ^ Gottlieb, Erika (2001). Dystopian Fiction East and West: Universe of Terror and Trial. McGill-Queen's Press. ISBN 9780773522060.
  6. ^ "Rogozhkin". cinemaparallel.com. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
[edit]
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