A biopic based on the life of Russian literary critic Vissarion Belinsky (1811–1848). The production of the film was completed in 1951, but it was not released until 1953, following the reshooting of various scenes demanded by Stalin.
Direction
Kozintsev fighting censorship through sheer visual density.
Production
Two years trapped in Stalin's editing room—a film that escaped.
Director
Grigori Kozintsev
Sergei Kurilov
Belinsky
Aleksandr Borisov
Gertsen
Vladimir Chestnokov
Nekrasov
Georgiy Vitsin
Gogol
Nikolai Afanasyev
Lermontov
Nina Mamayeva
Belinskaya
Yuri Lyubimov
Frolov
Vladimir Belokurov
Barsukov
Konstantin Skorobogatov
Krestyanin
Boris Dmokhovsky
Dubelt
Mikhail Nazvanov
Nikolai I
Yuriy Tolubeev
Schepkin
Konstantin Adashevsky
Belinskiy's opponent / Peddler
Nikolay Kharitonov
student at gallery
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Kozintsev had already directed Don Quixote (1957) and would later make the definitive Russian Hamlet (1964)—this was his survival job.
Released two months after Stalin's death, Belinsky became accidental proof that even totalitarian systems couldn't fully bury their critics—just delay them.
SU
