L’aveu (1970)
Director: Costa-Gavras
Actors: Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, Gabriele Ferzetti
Runtime: 139 min
The split between Tito and Stalin (1948), in the late 1940s and early 1950s, was followed by show trials of prominent Communists all over Eastern Europe and the wave of Stalinist purges in which tens of thousands suffered or lost their lives. This movie is about the 1952 process in Prague, conducted against Rudolf Slánský and 13 other leading members of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ). The main protagonist – Anton Ludvik, aka Gerard, is based on Arthur London, veteran of the Spanish Civil War and the French resistance movement, who, at the time of the arrest, was vice-minister of Foreign Affairs of Czechoslovakia and a senior official of KSČ. Display of Stalinist torture and interrogation process in preparation for rigged political trial is very realistic. Based on actual events.
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