Examines the mass murders committed by the Nazi and Stalinist regimes, describing how the killings were more widespread than many believed, and explores how those crimes influenced other events in modern history.
Young film assistant Nikolai Gribshin seizes a chance to transform himself and influence the course of history when he meets scientist Professor Vorobev, and the revolutionist Joseph Stalin while waiting in a remote Russian railway station in 1910 to record the last hours in the life of Leo Tolstoy.
Gleb Nerzhin, a brilliant mathematician, lives out his life in post-war Russia in a series of prisons and labor camps where he and his fellow inmates work to meet the demands of Stalin.
History of the Russian Empire leading up to the Communist revolution depicting the forces which made the Czar's rule crumble and argues that the revolution and its aftermath was a tragic failure for the people it was supposed to benefit.
Eyewitnesses explain how communism appealed to their deepest hopes and dreams, and how leadership under Lenin and Stalin eventually gave way to despair. (60 min.).