The 101st Kilometre

Black and white, 35mm
Russia, 2001, 103 min
Section: East of the West

Synopsis

This partly autobiographical film draws on the reality of the not-too-distant past. Its title refers to a regulation known as ‘the 101st kilometre from Moscow.’ Released prisoners and troublemakers had to follow a special regime limiting their movement to the aforementioned distance from the capital. The town of Orechovo-Zuyevo is on this borderline. Middle-schooler Lyonya, fed up with the general hypocrisy and all-pervading fear which remains even after Stalin’s death, falls in with former criminals. He is impressed by their solidarity and the peculiar laws they use to run their community. He takes risks without suspecting that the vigilance of the authorities hasn’t weakened even after the removal of Beria. His neglectful relationship with his parents changes when his father confesses that he must get out of Moscow and leave his intellectual profession. After this discovery and his first contact with danger Lyonya understands there is nothing left for him either but to take off somewhere far away from his city and try to find out the truth about himself. The 101st Kilometre This partly autobiographical film draws on the reality of the not-too-distant past. Its title refers to a regulation known as ‘the 101st kilometre from Moscow.’ Released prisoners and troublemakers had to follow a special regime limiting their movement to the aforementioned distance from the capital. The town of Orechovo-Zuyevo is on this borderline. Middle-schooler Lyonya, fed up with the general hypocrisy and all-pervading fear which remains even after Stalin’s death, falls in with former criminals. He is impressed by their solidarity and the peculiar laws they use to run their community. He takes risks without suspecting that the vigilance of the authorities hasn’t weakened even after the removal of Beria. His neglectful relationship with his parents changes when his father confesses that he must get out of Moscow and leave his intellectual profession. After this discovery and his first contact with danger Lyonya understands there is nothing left for him either but to take off somewhere far away from his city and try to find out the truth about himself.

About the director

Leonid Maryagin (b. 1937) graduated in direction from the Leningrad Theatre, Music and Film Institute (1964) and later worked at Mosfilm. His colourful film and theatre résumé includes: Two on the Route (1972), Miss Nikanorova is Waiting for You (1978), An Uninvited Friend (1981), The Birthday Party (1983) and An Expensive Pleasure (1988). After making analytical accounts of Soviet reality and its way of life, he focused on political reminiscences in the co-production films Bukharin - Enemy of People (1990) and Trotsky (1993). Even the black-and-white retro-film The 101st kilometre (2001) is a critical reflection on the criminal character of the former USSR’s totalitarian regime.