The First Circle (Russian: В круге первом, V kruge pervom) is a 2006 Russian miniseries directed by Gleb Panfilov, with ten 44-minute episodes. It is based on The First Circle, the novel written by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn based on his experiences in Joseph Stalin's gulags.The series was first broadcast in the Russia on RTR-Russia on January 29, 2006.
Synopsis
Based on Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s autobiographical novel and set during the fearful times of Stalin’s mass arrests, the series takes place in a sharashka, a prison-laboratory for secret research where Russia’s greatest minds are put to government use. While living conditions in this «first circle of hell» are incomparably superior to the Gulag camps, the scientists there face the moral dilemma of cooperating with an inhuman system. The action begins when a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official makes an anonymous phone call to the American embassy, trying to warn them about a leak of information that would allow the USSR to build the atomic bomb. In order to identify the traitor, the KGB turns to one of the projects at the sharashka. The character of Gleb Nerzhin (Yevgeny Mironov), a mathematician who chooses the horrors of the Gulag rather than compromise his conscience, is based on Solzhenitsyn himself. The First Circle is a hard but optimistic story about the victory of the human spirit over totalitarianism.
, 2h15 Réalisé parGleb Panfilov OrigineRussie GenresDrame, Biographie, Historique, Romance ThèmesPolitique, Royauté ActeursLynda Bellingham, Yuliya Novikova, Kseniya Kachalina, Olga Boudina, Andreï Kharitonov, Olga Vasilyeva Note71% The film begins on the night of February 22, 1917, before the Tsar departs to the war front of Stavka. Russia under Tsar Nicholas II was in the third year of World War I. By 1917, Russia had suffered many losses. Nevertheless, the tsar's authority with the people was high. Petrograd (formerly St. Petersburg) was an exception. Late at night, Nicholas and Alexandra are woken up by their son, Alexei who has a high fever, as well as Olga, the eldest of the five children. The next morning, Nicholas leaves to Stavka, at the war front. Meanwhile in Petrograd, people are starting to revolt. A street is bombed and many are killed. The Russian Revolution has started. Nicholas arrives at Stavka and he is told that his son Alexei, a hemophiliac, will not live to the age of 16. Back in Petrograd, Alexandra is told about the chaos in the city. At the Imperial Train, Nicholas is given documents requesting his abdication. He signs and is no longer Emperor of All the Russias. He had decided to give the throne to his son Alexei, but due to his bad health, he decides to give the throne to his brother Michael, who does not accept it. Russia is left without an emperor.