Portobello Pictures
"Irresistible...a wonderful comeback for Czech director Jiří Menzel"
Il Messaggero
"Full of warmth and humour"
L'Unita
The story of an awkward, simple, stubborn Red Army conscript who is sent to guard a downed plane in an isolated village somewhere in the Soviet Union.
Forgotton by everyone and unaware that the USSR has entered World War II, Private Chonkin moves in with Nyura, the local postmistress, but when his neighbours accuse him of being a spy it sets off a series of bizarre events reminiscent of Joseph Heller's CATCH-22.
Based on Vladimir Voinovich's magnificent comic novel and directed by the Academy Award Winning Jiri Menzel (CLOSELY OBSERVED TRAINS), THE LIFE AND EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF PRIVATE IVAN CHONKIN combines wonderfully absurd humour with an insightful satire of Stalinism and Soviet bureaucracy, as Chonkin single-handedly succeeds in disrupting the Soviet war effort.
Year of release: 1994
Director: Jiří Menzel
Screenwriter: Zdeněk Svěrák
Adapted from the novel by Vladimir Voinovich
Producer: Eric Abraham, Katya Krausova
Principal Cast: Gennadi Nazarov, Zoya Buryak