The BBC documentary so dangerous it sat in a vault for 40 years.
Alan Clarke's documentary about Soviet writer and dissident Vladimir Bukovsky, who had left the Soviet Union in 1976 after years spent in their prisons and psychiatric wards. The film was completed in 1977 but never broadcast, subject only to private screenings. The documentary appears publicly for the first time as a special feature of the BFI's 'Dissent and Disruption: Alan Clarke at the BBC (1969-1989)' box set, alongside 50 minutes of outtakes.
Direction
Clarke's signature locked-off camera lets testimony devastate.
Editing
50 minutes of outtakes reveal what state TV refused to air.
Director
Alan Clarke
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Clarke's only documentary for the BBC's General Studies strand, made during his brief window of mainstream access before his reputation for controversy grew.
Bukovsky later became a key source for Western understanding of Soviet punitive psychiatry, his leaked documents exposing the KGB's systematic abuse of medical institutions.
GB
