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Kengir
- Billy Festorazzi
- Unrepped
- Available
- Drama
- Scouted
- 70.1
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After Stalin dies, a group of political prisoners in the labor camp Kengir decide to go on strike in order to force the Red Army to provide them with better living conditions.
In 1954, a Ukrainian political prisoner held in the Kengir labor camp in Kazakhstan takes part in an uprising in which the prisoners take control of the camp. As the group forms their own self-sustaining government and attempts to thrive through the standoff, the young man finds love with a Russian nurse who is held in the adjoining women's prison.
In the 1950s, around the collapse of the reign of Stalin, Russian and Ukrainian prisoners in a work camp stage a rebellion and take over the camp, establishing an internal system of government of their own.
Film
Independent (avant-garde), Drama, Period, Dark, Prison, Political, Tragedy, Ensemble Cast, Corruption, Foreign Locale, Survival, Historical, Battle, Betrayal, Friends/Friendship, Government, Guns, Nazi, Relationship, Soldier, True Story, Violence/Violent
110
R
High
M
Other
28
Average
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Great Raid, The Counterfeiters (Germany), The Way Back, Sobibor (Russia), T-34 (Russia), Eternal Winter (Hungary), Son of Saul (Hungary)
1954, Several Months
99% Kazakstan Prison Labor Camp and its interiors and exteriors. 1% Kyiv, Ukraine, including a residential home, a flower shop, a train station.
In 1954, a group of political prisoners, including Ukrainians DYMYTRO (28), HADEON (38), PETRO (34), KRYOLO (35), IVAN (22), and MARKO (23), Poles PAVEL (21), and WOJCIECH (27), Russian KAPITON (31), and Latvian BURIAN (36), is held at Kengir labor camp and prison, in Kazakhstan. Stalin dies and Khrushchev takes power, prompting MAJOR ABAKUNOV (48) and other prison brass to worry that the prisoners will be released. They aim to show the government that the prison is necessary, by provoking the prisoners. The male prisoners send letters, by carrier pigeon, to female prisoners being held next door, but their scheme is discovered. Wojciech snitches on Burian, the pigeon handler, in exchange for food.
Dymytro gets a secret note from Ivan that says a group of men is planning a hunger strike. Petro thinks a rebellion is a good idea. A WARDEN (?) tries to pit a group of thieves from the prison against the men, but Kryolo convinces their leader, MAKSIM (21) that they should band together against the warden. Together, they stage an assault, carrying makeshift weapons, and breach a barrier to the women’s prisoner, freeing the women. Despite losing many to the guards’ gunfire, they gain the upper hand, and the guards finally retreat. Dymytro chooses not to look for Russian...
Dymytro gets a secret note from Ivan that says a group of men is planning a hunger strike. Petro thinks a rebellion is a good idea. A WARDEN (?) tries to pit a group of thieves from the prison against the men, but Kryolo convinces their leader, MAKSIM (21) that they should band together against the warden. Together, they stage an assault, carrying makeshift weapons, and breach a barrier to the women’s prisoner, freeing the women. Despite losing many to the guards’ gunfire, they gain the upper hand, and the guards finally retreat. Dymytro chooses not to look for Russian...