“We shall shoot you like dogs, along with your white collars, you intelligent swine.”

What to do when academic attainment which one longed for the entire life, suddenly becomes a drawback; When knowledge becomes an instrument of dominance and suppression; When one becomes subject of suspicion just because of wearing spectacles? What to do when crudeness becomes a virtue, ignorance is deemed to be innocence and ruthlessness is seen as “fair anger”? Can educational attainment and cultural astuteness defend themselves and their status? Rakhmanova’s diaries portray the fate of young girl from a cultured family who thirsts for learning during the Bolshevik revolution and Russian civil war. The diaries are most powerful, authentic and impressive account about an era that sprang out of control, a terrifying narrative that is at the same time deep, one that unveils the deepest corners of soul.

Running time: 3 hrs 30 mins with one interval