He vows to correct this injustice, jumping dutifully through every bureaucratic hoop until he can meet with the government bigwig who can help. Adapted from a 1969 novel by gulag survivor Georgy Demidov, this is a shout of futility that is also strangely, bitterly funny. If you didn’t laugh, you’d cry. Impeccably photographed, staged and acted, the film has a chilling resonance with modern times.