Ward No. 6 (2009)

Simultaneously nihilistic and heartening, Ward No. 6 is based on a story by Chekov, in which a psychiatric doctor becomes a patient in his own asylum. Updated to contemporary Russia, the ... See full summary »

Directors:

Aleksandr Gornovskiy, Karen Shakhnazarov

Writers:

Aleksandr Borodyanskiy (screenplay), Anton Chekhov (short story)

Stars:

Vladimir Ilin, Aleksey Vertkov, Aleksandr Pankratov-Chyornyy

4 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Vladimir Ilin	...	Ragin
Aleksey Vertkov	...	Gromov
Aleksandr Pankratov-Chyornyy	...	Mikhail Averyanovich
Evgeniy Stychkin	...	Khobotov
Viktor Solovyov	...	Nikita
Aleksey Zharkov	...	Old chief physician
Albina Evtushevskaya	...	Darya
Anna Sinyakina	...	(as A.Sinyakina)
Alina Olshanskaya	...	(as A.Olshanskaya)
Stanislov Eventov	...	(as S.Eventov)
Dmitriy Gusev	...	(as D.Gusev)
Oleg Shapko	...	(as O.Shapko)
Ye. Golyandin
Yu. Soroka
S. Semenkova

Storyline

Simultaneously nihilistic and heartening, Ward No. 6 is based on a story by Chekov, in which a psychiatric doctor becomes a patient in his own asylum. Updated to contemporary Russia, the film is a cocktail of anxieties and riddles, showcasing how easy it is to become what we fear most.

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Plot Keywords:

russia | doctor | doctor as patient | stroke | children | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Mosfilm [rus] Official site [Russia]

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian

Release Date:

27 November 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ward No. 6

Filming Locations:

Mental Health Nursing Home No. 3, Dmitrov Rayon, Moscow Oblast, Russia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mosfilm

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Like the interviewed patients of the nursing home, Anna Sinyakina appears at the beginning and at the end of the film. First she plays a nun who walks by the swamp, and then she is the girl who dances with Ragin at the New Year party.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Vladimir Kozlov: Vladimir Vladimirovich Kozlov, born in 1979, on August 15.
Interviewer: For how many years have you lived here?
Vladimir Kozlov: This is... the fifth year.
Interviewer: Where did you live before you came to this nursing home?

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Connections

Version of Teletale: Ward Number Six (1963)

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Soundtracks

AKAPULKO
Performed by Laima Vaikule
Music by Igor Krutoy (as I. Krutoy)
Lyrics by Viktor Pelenyagre (as V. Pelenyagre)
Played at the New Year party

User Reviews

sad mostly degradation of mental patients

This movie was awful. I worked for years as a psychiatrist at a state mental hospital and could instantly identify the real patients---to me portraying them in this run down hospital stuffed full of drugs was depressing. I particularly disliked the full of him self new Doctor who had a fast pat answer for all of them and their conditions.

There was nothing intellectually or artistically stimulating about watching these poor people... and there was nothing intelligent about the story superimposed on them at least in the confusing way this film portrays it.

Apparently in the original short story (By Chekhov) a Doctor finds the most interesting person in the backwater where the psychiatric instution is located is one of the paranoid schizophrenics. That is believable. In the original story this Doctor is tricked into being admitted into the hospital...also believable but none of this comes out in this movie! In the movie this Doctors best friend runs a store or so it seems. And then this Doctor is admitted and has a stroke. None of it is explained...

I also felt sorry for the patients being filmed. The ending with kids laughing was supposed to be deep in some way and like the rest of this movie is nothing more than meaningless garbage thinking it is deep or artful.

Also cheaply filmed and very erratic camera work.

DO NOT RECOMMEND