Reading Book of Blockade
Director Aleksandr Sokurov
Countries Russian Federation
Duration 96 min
Synopsis
In "Reading Book of Blockade", Alexander Sokurov allows various people – actors, journalists, school children, students, soldiers – to read parts from the famous book by Alexander Adamovich and Daniil Granin about the siege of Leningrad. The city was besieged during World War II by the Germans and the blockade lasted 900 days and resulted in great starvation in the city. The long siege is estimated to have cost one million civilian lives, but the Germans did not manage to break the tough Russian resistance. "It was a life-long decision – to make this film. Every citizen of St. Petersburg (former name – Leningrad) has read, at least once, Daniil Granin and Ales Adamovich’s 'Book of Blockade'. This is a documentary based on true stories of those who lived through and survived the blockade. I wanted to catch the impression that these real stories of the enormous suffering, cold, famine and death have on our contemporaries, those who live in a safe and comfortable world and who, perhaps, have never read this book and do not have the slightest idea how cruel the world can be."
In "Reading Book of Blockade", Alexander Sokurov allows various people – actors, journalists, school children, students, soldiers – to read parts from the famous book by Alexander Adamovich and Daniil Granin about the siege of Leningrad. The city was besieged during World War II by the Germans and the blockade lasted 900 days and resulted in great starvation in the city. The long siege is estimated to have cost one million civilian lives, but the Germans did not manage to break the tough Russian resistance. "It was a life-long decision – to make this film. Every citizen of St. Petersburg (former name – Leningrad) has read, at least once, Daniil Granin and Ales Adamovich’s 'Book of Blockade'. This is a documentary based on true stories of those who lived through and survived the blockade. I wanted to catch the impression that these real stories of the enormous suffering, cold, famine and death have on our contemporaries, those who live in a safe and comfortable world and who, perhaps, have never read this book and do not have the slightest idea how cruel the world can be."