Dead Man's Letters

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Dead Man's Letters
Dead Man's Letters film poster
Directed by	Konstantin Lopushansky
Written by	Konstantin Lopushansky Vyacheslav Rybakov
Starring	Rolan Bykov Iosif Ryklin
Distributed by	Lenfilm Studio
Release date(s)	16 September 1987 (Toronto Film Festival)
Running time	88 min.
Language	Russian
IMDb profile

Dead Man's Letters (Письма мёртвого человека; Pisma myortvogo cheloveka), also known as Letters from a Dead Man, is a 1986 science fiction film directed by Konstantin Lopushansky and produced by Lenfilm studios.

[edit] Plot

DVD cover

The plot is set in a town after a nuclear war, which was caused by a computer error and the failure of the operator to prevent the missile launch — he noticed the mistake, but choked with coffee and was not able to shout respective commands in time. The town is destroyed and polluted with radioactive elements, and the strict police rule is established there: only strong and absolutely healthy people are selected for the protection in underground bunkers. The main character, played by Rolan Bykov, is a Nobel Prize in Physics laureate, who tries to survive and helps to survive a small group of children and adults staying with them in the basement of the former museum of history. He survives by writing letters in his mind to his son Eric, though it is obvious that they wouldn't be read. The main character is very disappointed that science lead to such a disaster. Many people die from the radiation. He escapes the safe bunker, returning to dying abandoned children, taking care of them for some time and giving them hope. Eventually he dies as well. The film ends with children wandering through the uninhabited landscape, their future undefined.