The Mark of Cain

Name: The Mark of Cain
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2001-03-05
Duration: 1 h 13 min
Rating: 7.6

20012001
1h 13min

7.6/10

372

Alix Lambert, Lalou Dammond, and Damon Locks in The Mark of Cain (2001)

Documentary

Sailing ships, stars, angels and executioners, The Mark of Cain chronicles the vanishing practice and language of Russian Criminal Tattoos. Captured in some of Russia's most notorious prison... Read allSailing ships, stars, angels and executioners, The Mark of Cain chronicles the vanishing practice and language of Russian Criminal Tattoos. Captured in some of Russia's most notorious prisons, including the fabled White Swan, the film traces the animus of the flowers of this carn... Read allSailing ships, stars, angels and executioners, The Mark of Cain chronicles the vanishing practice and language of Russian Criminal Tattoos. Captured in some of Russia's most notorious prisons, including the fabled White Swan, the film traces the animus of the flowers of this carnal art by way of the brutality of it's origins: the penitentiary and the criminal environm... Read all

7.6/10

372

Director
- Alix Lambert

Top credits

See production, box office & company info

See more at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination

7.9

Brother

7.3

Dirty Pretty Things

7.4

A History of Violence

6.6

30 Days of Night

7.6

Eastern Promises

Sailing ships, stars, angels and executioners, The Mark of Cain chronicles the vanishing practice and language of Russian Criminal Tattoos. Captured in some of Russia's most notorious prisons, including the fabled White Swan, the film traces the animus of the flowers of this carnal art by way of the brutality of it's origins: the penitentiary and the criminal environment. Incisive interviews with prisoners, guards, and criminologists reveal the secret language of The Zone and The Code of Thieves of the vory v zakone.

title based on the bible

Genre
- Documentary
Parents guide
- Add content advisory

Connections
Referenced in Eastern Promises: Marked for Life (2007)

Soundtracks
Don't Wait for Me Mama
Performed by Dinah Vierny (as Dina Vierny)
Chants Du Goulag

Top review

10/10

Found it!

This is available on DVD from Black Diamond Films - http://www.blackdiamond.co.uk/ or via Amazon (the 2006 DVD from Black Diamond, not the 2007 film starring Matthew McNulty).

From the box-blurb - "The Mark of Cain, a feature-length documentary by Alix Lambert, explores the dying art of Russian prison tattoos to offer audiences an understanding of conflict and transition in contemporary Russia. Through intimate interviews that enable the prisoners to talk about their life experiences, body art and living conditions, a powerful story emerges of tension between prisoners of different generations and different social-economic systems. The Mark of Cain documents for the first time the disappearing artistic practice of Russian prison tattoos; further, the project investigates the nature of change in Russia by examining what is happening in the country's prisons."

I heard about this film in interviews with David Kronenberg about his new movie "Eastern Promises" - apparently Vigor Mortensson found this documentary and showed it to Kronenberg during the filming, and it became a large influence. It's a nice companion to the Russian Tattoo Encyclopedia volumes by Danzig Baldayev, too.

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