AllMovie

In this frequently humorous ten-minute documentary short, the Russian-born still photographer Gueorgui Pinkhassov visits several of the inmates of a Soviet maximum-security prison, who expostulate about the life "on the inside" -- from the meanings of the tattoos on their bodies to their experiences consorting with friends, lovers, and relatives who come for brief visits. They also discuss the events that propelled them to incarceration. This film constitutes one in a series of documentaries (The Magnum Eye) shot by the photographers of the famed Magnum Photo Agency.