Diagnosis: Dissent (2023) | Transcript

Historical drama directed by Denys Tarasov, whose characters in the 1970s confront the Soviet system's use of punitive psychiatry to suppress dissent.
Diagnosis: Dissent (2023)

Diagnosis: Dissent (2023)
Director: Denys Tarasov
Writers: Kseniia Zastavska, Oleksandr Hlasenko
Release date: 13 October 2023
Stars: Kostiantyn Temliak, Irma Vitovska-Vantsa, Serhiy Kalantai, Ostap Stupka, Vitaliy Salii, Andriy Mostrenko, Pavlo Kostitsyn, Serhiy Kysil, Anastasiia Pustovit, Nataliia Babenko, Viktor Zhdanov

Plot: In the 1970s, Andriy Dovzhenko, a young, creative, and freedom-loving individual, discovers that many accused of “anti-Soviet activity” were sent to special psychiatric hospitals rather than prisons, diagnosed with a KGB-invented condition—”sluggish schizophrenia.” Trapped in the horrors of punitive psychiatry, Andriy faces a choice: cooperate with the KGB to return to his family or expose the truth about dissidents tortured in psychiatric facilities.

Throughout the film, Andriy (played by Kostiantyn Temliak) undergoes a profound transformation, grappling with whether his rebellion against the Soviet system stems from a desire to stand out or a genuine pursuit of human free will. He represents a composite of freedom-loving individuals caught in the KGB’s grip due to their rejection of the oppressive communist regime.

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Diagnosis: Dissent (2023) | Transcript

BASED ON REAL EVENTS

Kyiv 1977

Comrade Dovzhenko…

Did you understand the essence of this committee?

Yes. You have to determine if I’m not insane.

We have to determine if you are sane.

Let me help you then.

I graduated from high school with honors…

Served in the army…

Passed the exam to Kyiv Polytechnic.

I know a lot about electricity.

I won the heart of a beautiful girl and gave birth to a pretty healthy boy with her.

Eee… What else? I don’t know.

I go to the restroom on my own.

Is that enough to declare me sane?

a film by DENIS TARASOV

DIAGNOSIS: DISSENT

Tram pampam pampam!

Hi!

Happy birthday, son!

Dad, you missed everything.

Not at all.

I saw everything.

Son, I wish you to be free and to have a big heart with no fear.

And this is for you.

Let me help you.

So…

So, do you like it?

Look what I have.

It is a gift from my grandfather.

Isn’t it cool?

Yeah.

I spent three hours in the detention center.

Again? What happened this time?

Policemen didn’t like my hairstyle.

And no wonder he didn’t like it.

Happy birthday, Taras.

Daughter, I have to go. Thank you.

No, no. Dad, wait!

No, indeed.

No, I hoped you’d stay for cake.

I can’t. I need to…

Daddy!

Valentyn Heorhiyovych, if you are leaving because of me, don’t worry.

I promise to behave quietly, keep my own opinion to myself and not criticize the party!

Come on, sit down. I say sit down.

Sit down, I say.

You were expelled from the institute for listening to banned music. Right?

Upon an anonymous request.

How’s everything going at work?

Thank you.

All-Union Scientific Society of Neuropathologists and Psychiatrists organizes an international conference.

There will be guests from the United States.

And I will be giving a presentation.

Oh, Valentyn Heorhiyovych.

I suddenly have an idea how to make this wayward son-in-law love his exemplary father-in-law once and forever.

Yeah? I wonder how?

If only you could persuade your foreign colleagues to bring a few Led Zeppelin or Deep Purple albums with them, I would confess my sincere eternal love to you.

Mom!

Excuse me. What, my dear? Taras, what do you want?

You are a big kid, Andriy.

As for professional prisiatrist, your conclusion is very superficial.

You know what your problem is?

There is nothing behind your socalled rebellion.

Rebellion must have reasons, hit a target, lead to change.

Otherwise, it’s just a pose to draw attention to yourself.

Do you know who does that?

Please, enlighten me.

Boys. Without principles.

For me, it’s weird to hear about principles from a man who has spent his entire life licking other people’s asses to get to influential positions.

Cheers!

Dad!

Satisfied? You shouldn’t have treated him like that.

He shouldn’t have contributed to my expulsion from the institute.

But you don’t know that for sure.

I wonder who else could have written that anonymous letter.

Thank you for this wonderful evening, Andriy.

We’re going to ask you a few questions, do you mind?

Do I have any choice?

Do you have a history of mental illness in your family?

No!

Any concussions in childhood?

I think not.

What is your relationship with your wife?

Regularly.

Do you have a mistress?

No.

Why?

What does it mean why?

Are you sociable in daily life?

Listen, I am not…

Do you have additional activities?

Does going for a walk with my son belong here?

Do you like Wagner?

Wagner?

Yes, Wagner.

How should I answer without sounding insane?

Do you have friends?

I hope so.

Who are you at odds with?

I don’t have any enemies.

Were you mentally ill when you committed anti-Soviet acts?

Hi, Andriy.

Oh, Dovzhenko.

Come in here.

Complaint about you again, from the police.

An appearance that tarnishes the image of a Soviet citizen.

Right?

Nothing new.

I didn’t do anything illegal.

Sit down.

Dovzhenko, I’m sick of you.

Look at what you look like with your hair, jeans.

Anti-Sovietness on the move.

You don’t like the way I work?

I don’t like the way you live.

It’s all about the music you listen to.

It’s only violence and anticommunism there. Sex.

Excuse me, but do you know what this is?

Hi!

I have edited the two music programs you asked for.

They are ready to air today.

What is this?

I don’t know.

Dad!

Get in the car.

When will Andriy be released?

He will be kept in a pretrial detention center until the trial.

Until what trial?

For anti-Sovietism.

I warned you that you would not be happy with him.

What’s next? Prison?

For up to three years.

Go!

Boss, didn’t you confuse the room?

Shut up! Silence, I said!

Hey, shaggy, you have a nice jacket.

I said take off your jacket!

Take off the jacket.

Fuck off!

Daddy, please, get him out of there.

Do you know that he called me a sucker?

I’m begging you.

Take off your shoes, too.

I’m playing for the jacket.

Deal the cards.

There’s one option.

The defendants under the anti-Soviet article undergo a medical examination in our institution.

What kind of examination?

For sanity.

So you say that a person who listened to forbidden music is considered insane?

Yes.

How long has this been going on?

Ever since the diagnosis of slow-moving schizophrenia was invented in Moscow, at the Serbsky Institute.

There are symptoms, but no disease.

Slow-moving schizophrenia exists only in our Union.

Unrecognized by the international psychological institute.

But I didn’t tell you that.

And do you think Andriy will be sent to this examination too?

I don’t think so, I know!

This is how the state apparatus revenges those who have offended it.

I can’t do anything because…

Because you are… the part of that apparatus.

So, the shaggy haired has been healed?

Shut up!

Take it, beauty.

Come here, come on, don’t be afraid! Sit down.

Get out of here.

You look like shit.

Why are you here?

I turned on the music at the workplace.

Oh, what do you listen to?

Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Rolling.

They are cool.

But I like Black Sabbath more.

Vitaliy.

Andriy. Thank you.

Get settled.

Why did you do that?

They fired me again.

Did you think about us?

Listen, I’m not organizing any protest.

I just turned on my favorite music.

Forbidden music.

I don’t understand why you are so nervous.

They might issue me a fine of three hundred roubles or assign me community service. I’m not some kind of party cadre or modernist poet.

Nobody cares about me.

Andriy, you’re facing prison.

How did you get that?

Dad said that.

So, that’s his secret desire to see me imprisoned.

Stop fooling around, this is very serious.

Father said now they are sending to a psychiatric hospital for your article.

Where?

They will appoint a committee to determine whether you are sane.

Are you kidding me?

Andriy.

At this committee you will need to tell them that you need help.

They’ll put you in some psychiatric hospital.

You’ll stay there for a week, and then they’ll let you go.

It’s almost like a sanatorium.

I won’t do it.

I’m not insane.

Then you won’t see me and Taras for a long time.

It’s the only way not to be imprisoned.

Were you mentally ill when you committed anti-Soviet actions?

Yes.

I was not aware of my own actions.

We have just received information that your father was on a hunger strike.

He was denied the second group of disability.

Because of that, he could not get a job.

My father just wanted the local authorities to hear him.

Som did they hear him?

No. He died without receiving justice.

Justice?

Do you think the Soviet government could have treated its citizens unjustly?

Valentyn Heorhiyovych, do you have any questions for the subject?

Yes, I have.

Tell us, do you condemn your father’s actions?

No. I think my father acted the right way.

There’s nothing to think about, Heorhiyovych.

You’re a respected person, and he’s disgracing you.

You have to react somehow.

You should show that you don’t support his reformist nonsense.

We have prepared an opinion, the form is standard.

The diagnosis is slow-moving schizophrenia.

Send him to our ordinary city psychiatric hospital.

There are decent conditions there.

All right.

And one more thing, Volodya.

I’m asking you to supervise this personally.

Of course. You can rely on me.

Thank you.

It was once I turned on the forbidden music, once.

Bitch.

They can hold the trial without you if they decide that you are socially dangerous.

And you go to a psychiatric hospital under instruction.

Under what instruction?

The instruction on urgent hospitalization of mentally ill people.

Fuck.

It turns out that I can spend who knows how long there.

Listen, some people manage to get out faster.

They somehow get copies of their medical files and send them to the West.

There, our dissidents make noise.

And people like Sakharov, for example, began to bombard the Central Committee with letters demanding the release of certain prisoners.

I doubt I will be of interest to Sakharov.

Andriy, the West is fighting for all those who has made their voice heard.

Once you’re there, find accomplices and act together.

Take it, you’ll need this.

Let’s go! First one. Come on.

Second. Come here. Third one.

Go, I said. Get up. Move, move!

The fifth, go!

The sixth, the seventh, faster!

Quickly, in line!

So, comrades patients.

Welcome to our beautiful institution.

My name is Comrade Kozych.

You will remember it quickly.

I have two good news for you that will cheer you up.

First. Congratulations, you did not go to prison.

This is an exemplary specialist.

And we will definitely cure your brain.

And the second news is that you will have a warm shower.

Now my colleague will take all your valuables, you won’t need them anyway.

What are you looking at, come on.

Empty your pockets quickly.

Give it to me.

Come on! So, what have you got?

All right. Next.

Are you completely empty?

Wow, wealthy.

Follow me in a line, bitches!

Hurry up! Move!

Come on! Hurry up!

Don’t get behind, come on. Follow me.

Hurry up!

Follow others.

Move on, c’mon.

Let’s go.

Wait, wait.

Mouth. Mouth!

Mouth.

What are you doing?

Sit down, sit down.

Open.

Guys, I paid for it.

Mouth.

Open!

Come on.

Open.

Open your mouth.

Turn around.

Hurry up.

Don’t lag behind. To the wards.

So, you, you, you.

Come here. Follow me.

Hurry up. Go. First, second.

Come on.

Welcome to heaven.

Lights out.

Not lying down, not sitting, not walking.

Not lying down, not sitting, not walking.

Are you talking to me?

C’mon, c’mon.

We call him Hamlet.

He’s a Prince of Denmark?

Actually, he was fine.

But after his comrade died from being beaten by medics, he truly went mad.

Serhiy.

Andriy.

It’s from the haloperidol, you’ll understand.

There’s a pastor over there.

He’s praying, that’s not allowed here.

He pretends to warm up in the sun.

That’s Bayan.

That’s Ghost.

It’s Grandpa.

He is our gross meister.

All right, Grandpa, come on.

They’ve been here for so long that no one knows who they are.

Not even themselves.

That’s Colonel Rohoza.

What happened to him?

They call it fixation.

Why does nobody help him?

Forbidden.

We can’t. Forbidden.

Because you’ll end up in his shoes.

Hey, listen. Why did they do that to him?

I see you’re very curious.

You’re not a KGB rat, are you?

Vessel, bastards!

Breakfast, get up!

Vessel!

Vessel!

Let’s help Daddy, pssst!

Why are we sleeping?

Anti-Soviet idiots.

Let’s go to the canteen. Come on, come on!

Nonhumans.

This place is not for you.

Yes, I’m not crazy.

This is Colonel’s place.

Mykola.

Grandpa! Grandpa! Damn it! Stand up!

Why are you here?

I turned on my favourite music at the workplace.

Political, then.

No. I know nothing about politics at all.

I’m here by accident.

I will write a complaint.

Maybe some of you have done it, tell me where to start.

It’s forbidden to write here.

Or didn’t you get a briefing yesterday?

But that’s not the worst thing in your case.

You can’t protest, because you’re not under arrest.

No defence. Because you are recognised as mentally ill.

You’d better put a couple of spoons, son.

They don’t give you anything else.

And it’s still far from lunch.

Cheer up! Don’t bunch up.

How the neurolepticaddled lunatics declassified my agent?

I don’t think he was declassified, it was a personal conflict with Rohoza.

A KGB officer is in intensive care.

We will find out everything, we will find out who did it.

Your task is not to search, but to ensure that the system is functioning properly. But instead, they steal the patient’s medical records from your office, some of which are read by Americans.

What do you want me to do?

They say you can fuck for two days without a break on ephedrine. Is that true, comrade Khodymchuk? You know what else they say?

They say that dick is not hard after that.

Fuck. I’m fucked.

What did he say?

The Americans have requested an inspection of our hospitals.

You know what this means.

If they find out that we attribute schizophrenia to dissidents…

This is someone from your department.

Along with psychopathic murderers, you have four wards for dissidents.

I know, I was interrogated about this for three hours.

Who the fuck cares that you know?

We need to release Rohoza.

Have you gone mad, Lakhnovska?

He’s not the one who hands over the documents.

How do you know?

How do I know? Fuck.

He is under the supervision of your nurses all the time.

Only his wife comes to see him, she is searched.

He could not have passed these documents and, in general…

It would have been wise to persuade him to our side.

Rather that to fix him with belts.

Even if one of the patients handed over these documents, he might know about it.

I’m just as interested as you are in finding out who it is.

Believe me, If I do a double dose of sulfazin will be a gift to him, compared to what I have prepared for him.

Rohoza should be released.

Good afternoon.

Please, tell me what department is Andriy Dovzhenko in?

Dovzhenko.

No such patient has been admitted.

What the fuck have you done?

Where did you send him?

As you asked, to a psychiatric hospital.

I told you to send him to a regular hospital, and he ended up in a special one instead.

By the way, let me introduce you, Vitaliy Kravets.

The State Security Committee.

Hello, Comrade Stelmakh. I’m very pleased.

I understand that you were talking about your son-in-law Andriy.

I’m afraid I have some bad news for you, Professor.

Sit down, Valentyn Heorhiyovych.

As the saying goes, there is no truth in the feet.

Come on.

This morning the court heard the case of your son-in-law Andriy.

Confirmed the correctness of the medical report and made a decision to send your son-in-law for compulsory treatment in a psychiatric hospital of a special type.

He has no place where he is now, don’t you agree?

Yes.

It’s impossible to remain fully adequate, having spent years with people with obvious mental disorders. Right, Professor?

Yes.

I think Oksana and Taras also share our view.

By the way, how is she doing?

I attended the premiere of The Diamond Ring.

What kind of outfits Oksana makes!

She’s a genius! And how is she coping with Taras?

He’s only eight, she must really miss Andriy.

It’s still a good thing that problems haven’t started.

I’m sorry, what kind of problems?

You know how the public treats the families of those whose relatives are officially recognised as mentally ill.

The children are asked to leave the kindergarten.

Neighbours ask them to move.

The management asks to find another job.

Proper functioning of the system is impaired.

Please tell me, what can I do for you?

Have a seat, Valentyn Heorhiyovych.

Leave us alone.

Take it. Oh God.

God help us.

Kolya, show me.

What is this?

Take and drink.

I have the right to know what I take.

No you don’t.

Then, I won’t do it.

Hey, don’t be a dick, just drink.

Come on.

For mom.

Where? Show me your mouth.

You bitch, come here.

Fuck.

Well, shaggy.

Let’s make you an exemplary Soviet citizen.

I’ve given you strong painkillers, you’ll feel better now.

Ready?

One, two.

How did you manage to persuade Khodymchuk to release me?

I said you would cooperate with us.

My brain feels like it’s filled with lead.

Thoughts are confused.

I can’t focuse on anything.

You’ll be better now.

Let’s go.

I think the only thing I can think about is suicide.

I’ve been broken, finally.

They’ve been giving you a lot of tranquillisers without correctors lately.

It will be better now.

I want to ask you something.

Vitya.

The West received a medical report on one of our patients with a diagnosis of slowly progressive schizophrenia.

Do you know anything about it?

No. Why do you ask?

KGB is searching me.

They came and interrogated me, searched the whole apartment, found nothing, but they are following me.

What patient?

Yevhen Miroshnychenko.

You mean the guy who died from being beaten by the medics?

Yeah.

Is this why the KGB sends its rats here?

Vitya.

I really know nothing about it.

An order came from the top to use brutal torture against all political prisoners, you first, then the others.

You understand?

Listen.

I’m being honest with you.

Although you’re right about one thing.

If I was involved, I wouldn’t have told you.

You don’t trust me.

I don’t want to put you in danger.

You’re the only one I still have.

Don’t bunch up.

Did I say something unclear?

Hey, Grandpa. Come here.

Sit down, we’ll play.

Good move.

Listen.

Why are you here?

I’m a taxi driver.

Well, I was.

I talked to the passengers about everything.

So, you know.

I might have said something wrong to someone wrong.

But I’m leaving soon.

Hey, Grandpa.

Let’s play fair.

How did you manage it?

I told the committee that I had made a mistake.

That I was not aware of my own actions.

That the Soviet government is the best government in the world.

In short, I acted wisely.

Do what you did was to give up.

Call a spade a spade.

Let it be so.

But I’m going to get out of here.

And go back to work.

You will be declared disabled in the second group.

You will receive a pension of forty-five rubles.

You will be denied access to many professions, including driving.

You’ll be deprived of your civil rights and taken into care You’ll be lucky if it’s one of your relatives and not a KGB man.

Fuck you.

Andriy.

I would like to ask you not to whisper behind my back.

I’m not here by choice either, you know.

You’re disturbing me.

Dovzhenko, Khodymchuk is calling you.

How do you like our hospital, comrade Dovzhenko?

So, it is hospital.

I just have the impression that it is something much worse than prison.

Not at all.

Under Soviet law, compulsory treatment is not a punishment.

You are not imprisoned here.

You are patients, sick patients.

Doubtful.

Why do you doubt professional opinions from expert doctors?

Our foreign colleagues speak very highly of Soviet psychiatry.

Very highly!

Perhaps they are not shown everything.

Perhaps they are unaware that absolutely normal people are imprisoned by Soviet psychiatry.

Not normal, but sick.

I am normal, and you are sick.

Today you criticise the Soviet government, then you are inspired by the idea of hating the police and end up… attempting to kill a high-ranking official.

So, what do we have here?

Wow.

You have a deep psychopathisation of the schizoid personality.

A slow-moving schizophrenic process is possible.

So, don’t you want to tell me something?

Comrade Dovzhenko?

For example?

Well, that you sincerely repent of your actions.

That you will never make the same mistakes again.

I prescribe haloperedol injections, four millilitres of a five per cent solution and stelazine tablets, and to relieve depressive and paranoid states, I prescribe injections of one per cent sulfazine.

Hush, hush. Come on.

That’s it. Let’s go. Holy Father, have mercy on us!

I pray to you, our holy God, save your servant Andriy.

I pray to the higher power.

The power is yours, O Lord.

For ever and ever.

To the glory of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

He doesn’t look like a rat.

Hi.

Is it that bad?

What have they done to you?

Doesn’t it suit me?

Oksana.

You are so beautiful.

Give me a smile, please.

You know, it’s not so bad, as you said, it’s almost like a sanatorium.

They feed us well, the chambers are bright, staff are friendly.

The nurses are very polite and kind.

They feed us all kinds of vitamins.

You’ve forgot that you’re not good at lying at all.

What’s that?

It’s haloperidol.

Hey! Talking about the hospital is forbidden.

Well, let’s talk about less pleasant topics.

How is your dad?

Look, I succeeded, and you smiled.

I will fight.

I have already written a complaint…

Hands!

I have already written a complaint to the prosecutor’s office.

Tomorrow I should get an answer.

I will do my best to get you out of here.

Just hold on, okay?

You know that I never give up.

You should stop with this bullshit, man.

Do you remember your father well?

I didn’t know him.

I remember my father a little bit.

He was shot by the Nazis when I was little.

His own neighbours turned him in.

The police.

The same twofaced bastards as those who pretend idiots here.

I can see through them all.

My mum couldn’t hold me, I ran away to my dad at the very moment when… they… poof. And the bullet hit me… here.

On the move.

And got stuck.

Did you try to get a bullet?

Are you stupid?

This is the memory of my father.

This shit helps me to ease the pain.

Oh, fuck… boring.

Let’s torture them.

How are you?

My whole body aches.

And there’s some white shit in my mouth.

I keep wanting to rinse it out.

Stelazine. You obviously pissed off Khodymchuk a lot.

Oh, he turned out not to be a fan of rock music.

You’re one step away from insulin, mate.

Here, it’s prescribed to the particularly rebellious.

First, you become deaf as a grouse…

Come on.

And then you stop responding to sounds and touch.

You sit like a scarecrow and drooling from your mouth.

Why are you here?

He distributed the Ukrainian Herald by Chornovil.

It was closed in 1972.

He has been here ever since.

The only person he trusted here turned out to be a KGB rat.

According to Mykola’s innocent stories, he sent three of his friends to prison.

Since then, he hasn’t trusted anyone.

No one, but you.

Pastor has an equally interesting story.

Three years ago, I wrote a letter that many priests of Soviet Ukraine were the recruited KGB agents.

They hand over to the committee the information received from believers.

A few days later I received a summons.

Please come to visit a doctor at the psychoneurological dispensary.

In case of nonappearance, the police station will be informed.

I came and I never left.

So what do you have: a stance or a pose?

I don’t understand.

The point is simple.

Whores, artists and clowns strike a pose.

It can be easily changed depending on the audience’s or clients’ wishes.

Stance always remains the same.

Go to your rooms, your shift is over.

Get in fucking line, whores!

Cross yourself.

Cross yourself, bastard.

Oh, you see? From the first blow.

Your turn.

Please don’t.

Don’t, I’m begging you, please.

Please, don’t.

Watch how you do it with him.

Stand up.

Say aaa to daddy.

Chew. Chew, chew.

If you spit it out, I’ll kill you. Chew.

Chew.

Why the fuck did you sit down?

Do you hear me?

Why did you get to him?

What the fuck are you saying?

What, you don’t have the balls to fight with someone younger?

Here, bastard!

No, no, no.

I have another method for you.

Come in. Go wash your hands, and I’ll make lunch.

Mom.

Mom, my sweetheart?

Hello, Oksana.

My name is Vitaliy Kravets, I know your father.

How did you get there?

It was open.

I don’t know who you are or what you want, but you’d better leave.

I call the police.

Come on, Oksana.

I am here for you.

I want to talk with you about your appeal to the prosecutor’s office.

Take off the clothes.

Did you hear that? Take off your pants.

Come on, shit.

Tell your son to go to his room.

Honey, go play in your room.

I’ll be right back.

Taras.

Take a candie.

Take a candy, Taras.

Thank you.

Good boy.

Take it off.

Oksana.

I must ask you to give up trying to fix Andriy’s situation.

You are only making it worse for him.

After each of your appeals they will increase the dose of neuroleptics.

And he will lose interest for everything pretty quickly.

Even for the family.

Do you really want to see him that way?

I think you should answer.

Go ahead.

Hello.

Listening.

It’s called “twisting”.

It was invented by the bright minds of the nurses.

You won’t even be able to breathe soon.

Get some rest.

A call from the theatre?

Told to take leave at my own expense.

Listen, it’s a great idea.

I think you need some rest.

Well, all the best.

Say hello to your father.

I’m confiscating this one.

It’s very serious…

You will be released…

Dad, you missed everything.

This is how the correctors act.

They will bring you to your senses now.

I am Iryna Lakhnovska, the head of this department.

Andriy Dovzhenko.

I know who you are.

You like music.

Now I doubt it.

I wanted to thank you for what you did to the Colonel.

He won’t forget it.

How can you not be outraged by this?

There are no feelings at work, only instructions.

You’re not like them.

Get the fuck out of here.

Kolya, take him out.

Answer me one question.

I’m wondering where the morphine went. You started again.

Who do you serve, Iryna?

I don’t understand.

I know everything about you and Rohoza.

Your pretty little nurse saw you two basking in the bathroom.

That’s why you made me release him.

You were saving your lover.

That’s not that you..

Shut up!

You set me up.

If I don’t know by tomorrow night who stole those fucking documents, you’ll be in that ward!

Tomorrow.

Start the exercise. Raise your arms.

Up. Down. Up. Down.

Come on, come on, more fun.

I was a loyal communist.

I believed in the party and the leader.

I risked my life for a better future.

What went wrong?

After I said at the party congress that with such a political course, the light of the future would be a thin ray in a dark arsehole.

Everything went wrong.

Guys, here’s the deal.

I found out that Miroshnychenko’s medical report was released.

Whose?

Yevhen Miroshnychenko.

He was imprisoned for nationalism.

He developed an ulcer.

Kozych severely beat him after the operation.

His stitches came apart and he died.

It’s clear that someone from the hospital passed on the report.

It was one of you.

I understand that no one can be trusted here.

But we could act together.

Raise right hand up and turn it left.

Hey, you idiot, throw me the ball!

Are you deaf?

Give me the fucking ball!

Are you fucking deaf?

I said, give me the ball!

Get back!

What the fuck is this?

Stand still!

Fuck.

Everybody down! Nobody move!

Fuck.

On the ground!

Everybody lie down! Don’t move!

Guards, get ready to fight!

What are you anti-Soviet bitches lying around for, huh?

Bye, guys.

Bring it to the end.

To the wards!

So you’re not mad. Have you been playing the fool all this time?

Calm down.

Hey, hey.

Madmen are less likely to be watched.

So it was you who released the materials?

When Zhenia was killed, I realised that I could no longer remain silent.

How did you do it?

I noticed a long time ago that Khodymchuk was a fucking junkie and started to follow him.

One day, he got high and fell asleep.

I stole Zhenia’s file from his office.

I slid it out, hid it in a tennis ball and then threw it over the fence while I was walking.

Nurses didn’t notice?

Who cares if a madman throws tennis balls over the fence?

Clever son of a bitch.

And who picked it up?

My father. He got a job as a guard at a railway station not far from here.

It was he who sent the report to the American embassy and it made a lot of noise.

As far as I know, a congress of psychiatrists is about to take place.

But we need more materials.

Shit.

I know about this congress.

Guys, shush, shush.

Dovzhenko!

Get out.

You’re fucked.

Sit down.

Well, how are you?

Andriy, I have some bad news.

Is it something with Oksana? With Taras?

Taras was suspended from school, and Oksana was forced to take unpaid leave from work.

Now do you realise what you’ve done?

Actually, it was you who sent me here.

As I understand.

You understand it wrong.

In fact, this is a preplanned KGB operation, and you have become a part of it.

What?

Recently, someone from this hospital passed on to the Americans the report of one of the patients diagnosed with slow-moving schizophrenia.

Well, the Americans have long suspected that this diagnosis is just a fiction to hide political repression of dissidents.

But now they are demanding to be allowed to inspect psychiatric hospitals and they threaten to expel the Soviet psychiatric society from the World Association, and this is already a scandal.

KGB developed an operation to identify an informant.

To do this, they needed a suitable candidate who could win the trust of patients.

Some people manage to get out faster.

They somehow get copies of their medical files, send them to the West.

Once you’re there, find accomplices and act together.

Andriy, they used you as bait.

What do they want from me?

You just have to tell them who is leaking the information.

Son, you have to save your family.

It was me who wrote that anonymous letter to your institute.

We’re going to fuck you up so badly.

For the death of one of us.

You will shit with blood.

This is all a KGB operation and you are part of it.

You just have to tell them who is leaking the information.

Bye, guys.

Take it to the end.

You have to save your family.

Put him on the bed.

Be careful.

I can’t anymore.

I can’t anymore.

Stop!

Calm down!

That’s it, calm down.

Everything will be fine.

Where are you hiding the documents?

Bring me a solution of sulphazine, we’re out of it.

What happened in the yard?

Nurse saw one of the patients trying to throw materials over the fence.

If the Colonel hadn’t killed him, we would all be lying in the “twists”.

I’m sorry, Iryna.

Who passes on the materials?

Hamlet.

We need the medical records of everyone who has been diagnosed slow-moving schizophrenia.

I know who to pass them on to.

You have to help us, otherwise his death will be in vain.

Bring the next one, because we’re not keeping up.

Ok.

I will help you.

Sit down.

Hey!

Hey!

What does he want?

Pour.

‘Why are you shouting?

Take me to Khodymchuk.

Maybe I should put some condensed milk on your ass?

If he finds out you didn’t let me know important information, he’ll put it on your ass.

Levchenko! Take the comrade to the boss.

What?

It’s English.

I don’t speak English.

Only a little German.

I say, smoke on the water and fire in the sky.

Can I have your handbag, Comrade Lakhnovska?

What happens?

You’ll have to come with us.

The KGB are threatening my family.

They want me to give up an informant.

If I don’t do this…

You will say that I am the informant.

No.

Andriy, how old is your son?

Eight.

I’ll make copies of conclusions.

The rest will remain with you.

When they arrest me, no one will ask whether I acted together with Rogosa.

You’ll have time to send documents where they are needed.

But how do we get out of here?

Key from the boiler room.

I’ll leave the folder with the documents behind the red valve.

Hide the key.

There is a ventilation shaft there.

You will get out through it.

Are you sure you can trust her?

That this isn’t a setup?

I will give the documents to your father.

I will do it. I have nothing to lose. I’ll hand over the materials.

He’s right.

Are you sure?

I’m mad.

Not sitting, not walking, whole life.

Zhukovets, out.

Please, don’t.

Get out!

I beg you, don’t. Not me, not me.

I know who handed over the materials.

I know.

Who?

Hamlet.

Don’t do it.

Fixation for one week.

Get up, come on, get up.

Not lying down, not sitting, not walking.

Why did you do that?

Why did you pass confidential materials to the enemies of the motherland?

You have a job, a flat, social guarantees from the state.

An annual free trip to Crimea.

What were you missing, Comrade Lakhnovska?

Sick people.

You have the wards full.

A crowd of patients.

A crowd of patients, but less and less sick.

Bastards.

They will kill Hamlet.

Grandpa.

Grandpa, come here.

Do you hear me?

Help me. Come here.

Are you scared?

May I?

I’ll tell you a story about one patient.

Yevhen Miroshnychenko. He was a poet.

He was credited with reformist nonsense for a nationalist poem.

Chess. Remember?

Do you want to play chess? Come here.

Come here. We’ll play chess.

Good. Let’s play.

You see? I can’t. Help me.

Come on. Help me.

The guy had a temper. He did not respond to treatment.

He was in conflict with the staff.

I tried to find an approach, but…

He openly hated and despised.

I’m begging you. Untie it.

Good.

He got an ulcer from our food.

He was operated on. I ordered them to bring him to the infirmary.

I looked after him.

Thank you.

Let’s go.

Grandpa, what about me?

What’s the plan?

We have to save Hamlet.

Cowardly cunt.

One day, I came to ask how he feels.

Do you know what he told me?

He spat in my face.

That’s better..

I got angry and brought him to the ward.

Even though I knew it was too early, that the stitches had not healed.

He died in two days.

From beatings by nurses.

I’m tired of being afraid.

Tired of indulging criminals… who send sane people to a psychiatric hospital.

Let’s continue.

Let him go.

Go to your wards, fools!

Hey, friend, look at me.

Look at me, listen!

Run, hurry up.

Write it. And be done with it.

I told you to go to the wards.

Let’s run away of here!

Run away!

Do you hear me?

Thank you.

Did you call me?

I do, follow me.

You?

Did you escape?

Yes.

Do you realise that we’re finished now?

That’s not the worst thing you’re going to hear.

Here…

Patient case histories with slowly progressive schizophrenia.

People must know about it.

You have a conference coming up.

There’s no better time.

But it also has my signatures.

You told me there was nothing behind my rebellion. Well…

This is and always has been the goal of my rebellion. Freedom.

What about your goal?

You set us up.

You destroyed your family.

Did you think about Taras?

That’s for him.

He will hate you! You have doomed him.

Do you understand?

I know the time will come.

And he’ll understand.

I also have principles, you know?

Valentyn Heorhiyovych…

This is the cost of your principles.

Now you have to go abroad or lie low in some remote area.

I can help you with that.

What’s next?

He was mad, he became a criminal.

I won’t give them that.

But you should not go back to prison.

I’m prosoner everywhere now.

Do you hear me?

Andriy ran away from the hospital.

He wants me to give this to the Americans. Look.

It’s the end of us.

I’ll go to jail.

And you’ll never get a proper job.

He signed the death warrant for all of us.

I just want you to know who have you been living with all this time.

What? Why are you smiling?

You still don’t get it, Dad?

What?

That is why I fell in love with him.

Fell in love.

In love.

Dad, do what Andriy asked you.

I can’t. Do you understand? I can’t.

When mom was taken away… you also couldn’t?

In the early 70s, documents confirming the unjustified hospitalisation of political and religious dissidents in psychiatric hospitals in the USSR were made public in the West.

In 1977, Soviet psychiatrists were expelled from the WORLD PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION According to various sources, about two million people were victims of political abuse of psychiatry in the USSR Today, international human rights organisations continue to receive reports of the use of REPRESSIVE PSYCHIATRY in states with a totalitarian form of government On 30 April 2020, the head of the US mission to the OSCE, James Gilmore, said that Russia was using PUNISHMENTAL PSYCHIATRY in the ANNEXED CRIMEA.

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