Stiepan

The screen shows a close-up of a man waiting for a train. He talks directly to the camera in a quiet and sincere manner. For his whole life, this seventy-five-year-old Russian has been an unbending devotee of his religion. Because of this, the communist government, which championed atheism, only permitted him to train as an electrician instead of studying at college, and it offered him work in a mine instead of some prosperous employment. Stiepan talks about his marriage, which has filled him with inner happiness despite his being victimised by the state where he lived. Unbelievably, in the course of just thirteen minutes, this film manages to paint a sensitive and apposite portrait of a stranger but at the same time to frankly describe a long period in the history of one nation. The minimalist format enhances the impact of the film and the force of this man's testimony about the past of a country where dictatorship, repression and intolerance reigned. The kind face and even voice of this old man divests the documentary of any pathos and unexpectedly reveals the positive soul of a victim who found inner strength and balance in love and faith despite injustices and iniquity.