[music playing]
ZINAIDA RAPAVA: There was a note from my father.
It says that there is something valuable in the toolbox.
FLUKE KELSO: Your father died because he
wouldn't tell them where it was, because he
wanted you to have it.
Well, it's not Stalin's writing.
WOMAN: It's the writing of a young girl.
RJ O'BRIAN: Why would he keep her diary?
FLUKE KELSO: Obsession, infatuation.
[speaking russian]
FLUKE KELSO: That's it.
He was looking for the perfect mother for his child.
This is a huge story.
We've got to run this down.
We've got to go to Archangel.
I am not going anywhere.
FLUKE KELSO: No, no, You have to.
If you stay in Moscow, they'll find you, and they'll kill you.
He's a hack.
[inaudible].
FLUKE KELSO: If he's not going to settle this,
we have to ditch him.
[speaking russian]
Archangel.
Come on, let's run.
[inaudible].
[silenced gunfire]
How the hell did you get here?
It wasn't easy, you son of a bitch.
All I ever wanted was the story.
You get the rest.
Did you find Anna?
FLUKE KELSO: We found her mother
ZINAIDA RAPAVA: She died two days after the birth.
[speaking russian]
Your husband wanted to meet his grandson.
He took off the same way that you are taking.
He never came back.
[music playing]
Is this road on the map?
There's no [inaudible].
What's that up there?
[wind whirring]
It's married couples, soldiers.
That's incredible.
A whole colony of people posted out here in the wilderness
to look after one life.
[speaking russian]
[crying]
[vehicle approaching]
[suspenseful music]
[gasps]
[speaking russian]
[shouting]
[speaking russian]
[screams]
SOLDIER: [shouting in russian]
Whoa.
[revving engine]
Hang on.
[beeping]
[revving engine]
Hold it, hold it.
Oh my god.
[panting]
Whoa!
Are you all right?
Yeah.
Looks like somebody's, um--
looks like somebody's built a tank trap.
We're never gonna get out of this thing.
Isn't that the point?
No sweat. We got the phone.
We got food.
We got water.
Hey, hey. (QUIETLY) We got company.
[speaking russian]
Um, I think we may have taken a wrong turn.
Our map is out of date.
If you could just help us get out,
we can get back to the main drag.
You are the ones, I think.
You believe you know who I am, yes?
Want proof?
No, no, no.
No, we don't need proof.
We trust you.
Imperialists-- always sweet words, and then they
kill you for a [inaudible].
Come.
Well, we found him.
OK.
We got two of us and one of him.
You think we can get that rifle off him?
Don't even think about it.
[metal clank]
Suvorin.
[speaking russian]
[metal clanking]
[speaking russian]
Hi.
[dog growling]
[closes door]
Order of the Hero of the Soviet Union.
[speaking russian]
What was that all about?
He said his time is coming.
What does that mean?
It means we were expected.
Well, it looks like we're not the first people
to have come here.
These people came here?
Yes.
They say they were tourists.
What were they looking for, wolves?
No.
They were spies.
I have their confessions here.
They deny it at first, but admit all by the end.
[opens and closes door]
These look like blood stains.
You think we'll have to make confessions?
[SPEAKING RUSSIAN ALONG TO RECORD]
Capitalism is thievery.
We protect ourselves from these capitalists,
the stinking, crowing thieves of all mankind,
On only by ferocious vigilance.
Tell me about the [inaudible],, comrade.
They brought you up like you were their child.
He was a soldier in the [inaudible]..
When he drank, he beat me.
(SARCASTIC) Comrade, until I leaked blood.
How did he die?
He was so drunk, he fell into one of his own traps.
A dog's death.
His wife, she must have been like a mother to you.
She was when she was old.
She couldn't work.
It was a hard thing to do, but for the best.
Would you like to see a picture of your real mother?
I have one here.
I have pictures of my father.
That is all I need.
My father used to make his comrades dance.
[playing russian music]
Dance for Me.
Come on, don't be shy.
[clapping] (LAUGHING) No?
[singing] Come on, dance.
I-- well--
[laughter]
Dance, eh?
[laughter]
Dance.
[russian music playing]
[clapping]
What are you waiting for?
[speaking russian]
Now!
[chuckles] Dance.
Faster.
Da.
[wind whirring]
(GROANING) Oh, jeez.
Oh, god.
Come on. Hey.
Huh?
Wake up, wake up.
Where is he?
I don't know.
Oye.
I don't know if he's going to make us breakfast or kill us.
You know, I'd be a lot happier if somebody in this world
knew where we are.
[speaking russian]
Automobila [speaking russian] da?
[inaudible]
Guess we're not prisoners
We're meant to be here.
There's too many coincidences.
Oh, what do you mean?
You got a tip.
The voice on the phone said the barrier I mentioned
is literally a door left wide open for me.
The old man at communist HQ, he dusts off all his old files
'cause I give him some bullshit story about writing a book.
Mamantov is behind this.
OK.
I have got a blinding hangover.
What are you saying?
His whole platform is based upon a return to Stalinism.
And what do you think the dispossessed
and the disaffected are gonna do when
he wheels out the new messiah?
No one's gonna give a shit.
The guy looks like Davy Crockett.
He's Stalin's son.
That man's father is responsible for more
deaths than Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot, and Genghis Khan combined.
And that is a conservative estimate.
30 million Russians think that man's dad did a good job.
[helicopter running]
[speaking russian]
[typing] [beeping]
Ah, shit.
There's just too many trees.
This far north, you've got to have the dish at a really
low angle to send a signal. We need more space.
You know, I think we're gonna need an escape route.
Maybe you want to, uh, go down there
and see if there's a boat or canoe of some kind.
All right.
Watch your step.
He's got traps, remember.
Here we go, RJ.
[music playing]
[speaking russian]
[engine running]
[speaking russian]
[clapping]
All right.
You should be getting the unedited material now.
Then I'll do an actual intro, OK?
I'll talk to you in five.
[music playing]
[cocks gun]
Here in the northern tundra of Russia,
a story is unfolding which will shake the world.
For 50 years, this forbidden wilderness
has hidden a secret known only to a handful
of fanatical, hardline communists
faithful to the memory of Joseph Stalin.
(SHOUTING) What the hell are you doing?
You can't put that out there.
That's what they want.
You heard what the old log chopper said, huh?
His time is coming.
Any minute, he's gonna polish his boots and march into town.
Turn that camera off.
No, look, look, this is my story, doc.
And it's your book. - Well, I'm not gonna write it.
[inaudible], come on.
[gunfire]
[speaking russian]
[grunting]
[gagging]
[cocking guns]
Press.
[speaking russian]
You should have got on that plane, professor.
Where is he, the man you came to see?
He was here when we left.
Look, I-- I would just like to say that I am
an accredited journalist, OK?
And my bureau does know that I'm here, all right?
Then they'll wonder what happened to you.
[speaking russian]
[gunfire]
[speaking russian]
[gunfire]
Run.
Run!
SOLDIER: [speaking russian]
[gunfire]
[ricochet]
[gunfire]
[panting]
[metal clank]
[shouting] Mother of--
[groaning]
You're OK.
No, my shin, my shin.
[shouting]
[metal clank]
All right.
Come on [inaudible].
Come on.
[groaning]
[gunfire]
Oh, Jesus.
[music playing]
[gunfire]
[shaky breathing]
[clank]
[russian speech]
[boat motor running]
Hello?
Hello.
Could you-- oh, Jesus Christ.
[panting] Jesus.
[speaking russian]
Oh, Christ.
Da, I'm afraid he is.
[helicopter running]
[music playing]
- Where is O'Brian? - He's dead.
What?
It was soldiers.
Then how safe are we now?
I don't think anybody's left alive to report back,
so it should give us a couple of hours.
Did Mamantov send them?
No, the Kremlin.
Mamantov wants me alive.
POLICEMAN: [speaking russian]
Is it him?
Yes.
So what does it mean?
It means that poor old O'Brian let
the genie out of the bottle.
Come on.
[music playing]
[train horn]
Where's the rest?
It got you out of jail.
That's yours.
Explain to me, why did Mamantov want you to find this?
This has no credibility if it's suddenly produced
by an old school hardliner like Mamantov, it just stinks
of forgery and self-interest.
But me, I'm a Western academic.
I'm a published author.
And I'm an objective expert on all things Stalin.
And my father was a part of this?
Yeah.
So why did he die?
He didn't follow the script.
When I told him how valuable this was, he--
well, he wanted to leave it to you.
I tell you, it's cursed.
It's yours.
It's ours.
When we get to Moscow, we'll go straight
to the American embassy, and we'll get out of Russia.
We?
Come with me to New York.
Nice fantasy.
Are you all right?
The only time I ever connected with my father
was when he taught me how to use a gun.
He hardly spoke to my brother and me.
He could never touch us, never hold us.
[speaking russian]
Well, he was brutalized.
Many of us were.
I was too young to understand.
My mom always did, even in his silences or his drunken rages.
She always showed compassion.
She understood what they've made him.
[inaudible] Kelso.
Come, please.
And, uh, bring that.
[suspenseful music]
[thwack]
[groaning]
Come on, please.
[slams door]
Hm.
[speaking russian]
You would just throw this?
[laughing] You're a historian.
You have this burning urge to preserve
every historical document.
This for you is the way back, better
than your wildest dreams.
Getting famous all over again, you go on television,
lecture at college campuses, screw many girls.
It's your way back.
That's the problem.
No, it is to our mutual benefit,
this whole plan, good plan.
I used KGB funds to buy [inaudible] mansion.
I finance conferences you speak at.
First-class tickets, free vodka--
how could you resist?
[laughing]
Torturing and killing old men, was that part of the plan?
And what about those psychopaths running around in the woods?
A glitch.
But everything turned out good for both of us, mm?
We win, yes?
[laughing] Well, let's see.
You've got a madman on the loose who may be suffering
from a major congenital defect.
Do you think you can control him?
If he's his father's son, which I truly believe he is,
you could be one of his first victims.
[laughter]
Maybe he's right, comrade.
Maybe I play [inaudible] and make you dance.
[train horn] [brakes screeching]
We're stopping at the next station.
Where are we?
[inaudible].
They let you go?
Mamantov's on the train with Joseph.
[muffled crowd]
Oh, my god.
[singing in russian]
[interposing voices]
Jesus Christ, it's already started.
[singing in russian]
Listen, get off this train now.
Pay someone to drive you to Moscow.
Go to the airport and get on a plane.
To go where?
Anywhere.
[chuckles] And where are you going?
To do what they want.
[kissing]
[interposing voices]
[ominous music]
[cheering]
Hey.
What's going on?
Have you seen RJ?
RJ's dead.
What?
[cheering]
[speaking russian]
Can you put that on me?
Yeah. Film this guy.
I am Professor Christopher Kelso.
This-- this whole spectacle has been contrived
and stage-managed by a man whose only goal is absolute
power through torture and--
[speaking russian]
[thwack]
[grunts]
[cheering]
[thwack]
[gunfire]
[screams]
[piano music]