Set in tsarist Russia around the turn of the century and based on a true story of a Russian Jewish peasant Yakov Bog who was wrongly imprisoned for a most unlikely crime - the “ritual murder” of a Gentile child in Kyiv. We witness the unrelenting detail of the peasant handyman's life in prison and see him gain in dignity as the efforts to humiliate him and make him confess fail.
Acting
Alan Bates' eyes carry entire acts of silent resistance.
Direction
Frankenheimer traps you in cell walls that seem to shrink.
Director
John Frankenheimer
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
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