Anatoli Opritov

Performance at the Maly Theater from the novel by the Russian writer Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky.

Two village boys - brothers Semyon and Pavel - serve a Moscow merchant-shopkeeper. They face harsh exploitation and hard forced labor. The brothers' life paths diverge. Unable to withstand the merchant's bullying, Pavel goes to the factory, becomes a worker, and later a professional revolutionary. Semyon remains in service. In the post-revolutionary period, Semyon, having been to the front and returning to the village, joined the kulaks, brutally dealt with representatives of the Soviet government, becoming the head of a gang of “badgers” hiding in the forests. A Red Army detachment led by Pavel is sent to fight the bandits...

A young official, ambitious, but holding idealistic views, doesn't want to curry favor, or use patronage, although he is ready to live, albeit poorly, but honestly. He's subjected to increasing pressure from others who believe that material well-being is more important than principles, and he increasingly fights with his wife over money.

A female commissar is sent to the naval detachment, led by the anarchist Vozhak, on behalf of the Party Central Committee. She is tasked with subordinating the sailors to the cause of the revolution.