by Tana Hobart
synopsis
A roman a clef about Arthur London's imprisonment in Czechoslovakia during the Communist party purge, this movie depicts his unjust imprisonment, torture, trial, sentencing and release. We are not given the reasons for any of it and don't understand why he was released, but that is apparently the point behind this - that there is no justification or rationalization for what happens to political prisoners -- it is capricious, at best. Costa-Gavras proves his expertise at ambiance and tension, as he carefully brings the prisoner through his torments to the moment when he can take no more and is tried for his confession.
characteristics
- Injustice
- Psychological-games
- Totalitarian States
- Miscarriage Of Justice
- Confession [criminal]
- Abandon All Hope
- Political-prisoner
- Political Corruption
- Imprisonment
- Communism
- Arrest
- Torture
- Communist
- False-accusation
- Document
