Famous actors and ordinary people from all walks of life read stories from a book describing the 900-day siege of Leningrad during World War II.
Direction
Sokurov's ghostly long takes feel like séances with the dead.
Acting
Survivors' words spoken by icons—strange, devastating alchemy.
Sound
Silence and whispered testimony do more than any score could.

Director
Aleksandr Sokurov
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 'Book of Blockade' was compiled secretly during the siege itself; smuggling pages out became an act of resistance.
Sokurov shot this between 'The Sun' and 'Faust'—his unofficial trilogy on power, suffering, and the human cost of history.
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