Yes, a lot of characters; yes, a lot of ideas, though there are far more in the book.What else would you expect from a great Russian novel? Well worth the viewing - and the effort to read and understand the novel, Solzhenityn's finest.I write this on the weekend of John Paul II's funeral - a time to remember just how evil Communism-in-practice was, and how great were the courage and faith of those few who rose from within with no weapon but the truth. As Solzhenitsyn wrote almost 50 years ago, "Our wishes, if they are truly great, are certain to be fulfilled." Of course, one can say that "The Truth will set you free." is an even better statement of the same basic idea...I won't disagree.The movie does portray the finest part of Stalin's empire: the people who "became free all over again", and did not give in. An inspiration to us all...and never forget that there are little Lenins and little Stalins all around us, even here, even now, even in multinational companies and other "great" institutions, all building empires based on fear and greed, and all needing to be resisted.Some readers of the book may be a bit surprised by the plot. It appears to me to be based on the "long" version of the novel. As told in Solzhenitsyn's autobiography, The Oak and The Calf, the published version of the novel is a bit toned down - the original version had a more political crime and a more political surface message, as does the movie.

In Dante's Hell, the first circle was where the enlightened pagans were located; it may have been hell--but the least painful, high class section of hell. So also is the name of the Soviet prison where the scientists work in this grim drama, and, as it unfolds, one can interpret that the first circle includes not just the prison, but the whole uppercrust society of the Soviet Union, with Stalin as Satan overlooking his domain.An international production made shortly after the demise of the Soviet government, this sombre drama was produced on location. Like the novel it's based on, it has too many characters and it's probably too expansive a story even for a mini-series; although it takes place in just three days, it contains about two dozen characters that one must keep track of. Nonetheless, a patient viewer will be rewarded for it portrays the fear, oppression, and sometimes outright stupidity of the postwar U.S.S.R. Although F. Murray Abraham gets top billing, he's in it for only about six minutes, yet he's unforgettable as Stalin, playing the dictator not as the virile power that Robert Duvall suggested, but more as a wizened and petty thug, a paranoid tyrant in winter. Some might think Christopher Plummer overacts his role, but the real Abakunov was one who discovered that passion helped win promotions more than intellect did, and, as a result, he over-emphasized his zeal and deemphasized his thought (The mini-series doesn't portray this, but the real Abakunov would be executed one year after Stalin's death). The rest of the cast is wonderful, even if some are obviously foreign-language actors who are dubbed.See it and rejoice in your freedom.