Prisoner of the Mountains

Prisoner of the Mountains
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySergei Bodrov
Screenplay byBoris Giller
Arif Aliyev
Sergei Bodrov
Story byBoris Giller
Produced byBoris Giller
Starring
CinematographyPavel Lebeshev
Edited byAlan Baril
Olga Grinshpun
Vera Kruglova
Music byLeonid Desyatnikov
Distributed byOrion Classics
Release date
  • 1996 (1996)
Running time
98 minutes
CountriesRussia
Kazakhstan
LanguageRussian

Prisoner of the Mountains (Russian: Кавказский пленник, Kavkazskiy plennik), also known as Prisoner of the Caucasus, is a 1996 Russian war drama film directed by Sergei Bodrov, based on the 1872 short story The Prisoner in the Caucasus by Leo Tolstoy.[1] The film explores the clash between traditional Chechen culture and Russian military tactics during the First Chechen War, focusing on the personal struggle between two Russian soldiers and their Chechen captors.

The film received critical acclaim, winning a Crystal Globe at the 1996 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film[2] and a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Bodrov suggested to The New York Times that the film played a role in initiating peace talks between Russia and its neighbors, as it was screened to President Yeltsin on a Sunday and discussions began the next day.

  1. ^ Peter Rollberg (2009). Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema. US: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 544. ISBN 978-0-8108-6072-8.
  2. ^ "The 69th Academy Awards (1997) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 5 October 2015.