Penal Colony No. 56 is a military-style jail in a remote Russian forest that is reserved exclusively for murderers. Some live in barracks, others in tiny cells where they are not allowed to lie down during daylight hours. They recount their crimes, quote Freud and Einstein, talk through Plexiglas with relatives who travel huge distances to visit for a few hours. The camo-wearing warden who has run the camp for 26 years believes the inmates should all be killed, and some agree. But many worship in a chapel they built, some talk of crime and punishment with Dostoyevskyan insight, and one says he will achieve repentance only in suicide or before God. There are many haunting moments in this grim film, which has been shot in a harshly beautiful style. These convicts, caged like animals, are shown to be men after all. Robert Everett-Green
