University of Virginia Library

CINEMA

'One Day': Unpretentiously Literal

By CHRIS DICKEY

The screenwriter, the
director, the cinematographer,
and the actors did the best
they could to turn Alexander
Solzhenitsyn's "One Day in the
Life of Ivan Denisovitch" into
a good film. They tried to
remain true to the tone and
sentiments of the novel; their
translation into cinematic
terms is unpretentiously literal.
And in some measure they
succeeded. "Ivan Denisovitch"
is not a bad movie. But,
probably, it never should have
been a movie at all.

The whole idea of "One
Day in the Life" is essentially
literary. Only in a medium of
words may the background
details, the subtle mental
tensions, and the crucial
nuances in human relationships
be conveyed with enough force
to make an essentially
uneventful story work on our
emotions as well as our minds.

Film Capabilities

Film is capable of its own
special subtleties and nuances:
the faces of actors, the
inflections of their voices, the
dynamics of the photography
and editing may all combine to
affect us in ways which words
must strain to approximate.
But the non-events of "Ivan
Denisovitch" cannot be
completely supported by these
special virtues of the cinema,
especially not for the length of
time demanded for a
"full-length" film.

Sven Nykvist's photography
of the subarctic exteriors
superbly conveys the
desolation of the Siberian
landscape; we feel that we are
seeing not another country,
but another planet. His
interiors catch the filth and
sweaty intimacy of the
work-camp barracks, the
clamminess of the mess hall, the
iciness of the construction site.

Casper Wrede's adept
direction and the subtlety of
Tom Courtenay's performance
as Denisovitch manage to get
across the overwhelming
apathy of work camp life. We
begin to appreciate the
condition of men who are
deprived of almost everything
but still capable of living, and
even of taking pleasure in work
they might be expected to
despise. There is much said
with eyes, what mouths do
becomes more important than
what they say.

Expect Something

Yet, when once we know
what the camp looks like, and
when we are made to
understand the condition of
the men within it, we may
justly expect the film to end,
or something to happen. I'm
rather glad that the makers of
"Ivan Denisovitch" did not
manufacture a thrilling
conclusion, but, since the film
gets across its basic message in
the first thirty minutes, I'm
afraid that for the remaining
hour I was hoping against hope
for the great escape.

(Now at the University)