
Jimmy's Hall
2014


158 votes
When the communist government raises food prices in 1962, the rebellious workers from the small industrial town of Novocherkassk go on strike. The massacre which then ensues is seen through the eyes of a devout party activist.
Director
Andrei KonchalovskyWriters
Streaming availability for India
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Released
Original Language
Russian
Budget
$2.0M
Revenue
N/A
Production Companies
This is an amazing story, incredibly well-told. The script, the visual story-telling and the acting are all first class. It's well worth watching to understand how we, as humans, get sucked in by the rhetoric of a "government". This aspect of our collective history has not changed since Hitler was alive. It's current in China, and even was operating in the USA when Trump was present. It's not hard to draw these parallels. I loved the decision to go B&W! - it makes it all that much more palatable for us to digest the relevance to our own time.

It's the USSR in the early 1960s and though the Soviet Union is sending messages to the world of it's success, it's citizens are frequently on the verge of starvation. Even the most ardent of Communist party supporters find it hard when the government puts up the prices, but the wages remain static. This proves the final straw for some factory workers in a small town, who dare to go on strike. Not only that, but they invade the local party HQ where they are disgusted to find the occupants have a supply of cognac and Hungarian sausage. This is all quite traumatising for the loyalist "Lyudmila"…
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