The Russia House Page #3

Synopsis: Three notebooks supposedly containing Russian military secrets are handed to a British publisher during a Russian book conference. The British secret service are naturally keen to learn if these notebooks are the genuine article. To this end, they enlist the help of the scruffy British publisher Barley Blair, who has plenty of experience with Russia and Russians. Barley, an unconventional character who doesn't respond well to authority, finds himself in a game more complex than he first thought when he digs into the origin of the notebooks.
Director(s): Fred Schepisi
Production: MGM Home Entertainment
  Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 4 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.1
Rotten Tomatoes:
75%
R
Year:
1990
123 min
572 Views


or freedom versus responsibility.

So you tell him. Because you know.

Because you're from the West.

And before you've finished shaking your

dick, you think ''What a great country.''

That's why I love them.

And they're very fond of me.

Anyway,... later we talked about jazz,

and I played some.

What, somebody had a saxophone?

What else? Drum kit? Rhythm section?

How many women were there?

Three or four. But no Katya.

But there was someone, wasn't there?

Yes. There was someone.

Someone who is the reason

why we're all here. Yes?

- A man or a woman?

- Name?

Christ. The way you people

come alive when you smell blood.

They called him... Dante.

As in ''lnferno''.

The others said he was on holiday.

A drinking holiday.

He worked some place

where drinking wasn't on.

Everyone deferred to him.

He never spoke.

He just got drunk and stared.

- Stared?

- Mm. At me.

Did Dante arrive on his own

or with others?

I don't know.

Keep going.

Then I decided to give them all

a rest from wonderful me,

let them talk Russian for a while.

There's a graveyard

a couple of hundred yards up the hill.

It's a place of pilgrimage.

''If there is to be hope,

we must all betray our countries.''

Ah, Dante, old chum.

Come to pay your respects

to old Boris, have you?

Boris Pasternak.

Do you think he knows

people are allowed to read him again?

''All victims are equal.

None is more equal than others.''

Yes, well,... some write better than others.

''How sweet it is to hate one's native land,

to desire its ruin,

and in its ruin to discern

the dawn of universal rebirth.''

- Pasternak?

- No. Pecherin. An earlier poet.

Pecherin understood that it's possible to

love your country while hating its system.

If you say so.

I love my country.

I love it too - your country.

And I'm reasonably fond of my own.

To save it, perhaps

it's necessary to betray it. Yes?

Because you and I, we love truth.

Who are you, Dante?

What do you do for a living?

I am a moral outcast.

Oh, it's always nice to meet a writer.

And what sort of rubbish

are you turning out now?

Lies.

I am the lie.

Really?

You spoke the truth.

Promise me that you are not a spy, and

then I will make you a promise in return.

I'm not a spy, actually. Not my line.

You are nobody's spy? Not even ours?

Dante, I'm getting a bit jumpy,

to be honest.

I'm nobody's spy.

Let's talk about something else.

How about chess?

Oh, chess. In chess there are no lies.

But in my game lies are everything.

What game is that?

The Soviet knight is dying

inside his armour.

You are in danger only from our lies.

I commit the lie every day.

I lie even to my masters.

So, promise me that if I ever find

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Tom Stoppard

Sir Tom Stoppard OM CBE FRSL (born Tomáš Straussler; 3 July 1937) is a British playwright and screenwriter, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. He co-wrote the screenplays for Brazil, The Russia House, and Shakespeare in Love, and has received one Academy Award and four Tony Awards. Themes of human rights, censorship and political freedom pervade his work along with exploration of linguistics and philosophy. Stoppard has been a key playwright of the National Theatre and is one of the most internationally performed dramatists of his generation. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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