Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The Chekist creates its power through repetition. Three men set in an office, one reads names, and the other two pronounce the sentence (almost invariably execution by firing squad). Then, the condemned (always in fives) are taken from their underground cell. They are led through the bunker until they get to a large room with doors at the far end. They are ordered to strip and face the doors. Then, they are shot. Afterwards, the bodies are hauled from the bunker via a pulley system and placed in truckbeds. After the trucks are full, they are driven from the compound. The victims cross all age barriers, old men or young women, all are treated the same. These images repeat over and over again. Nearly half of the film are these scenes. Some will find it hard to watch. They are even harder to forget.These executions are overseen (and seen) by Andrey Srubov, a bureaucratic official who shows little emotion as he carries out his job to make Russia better by eliminating those who could be a threat to the communist utopia. Srubov discharges his duties with emotionless efficiency. However, there are hints that even he is not immune to what he witnesses daily. His home life with his wife and mother is a cold, sterile atmosphere. People avoid Srubov because there are very few in this city that has not lost someone they love to his efficiency. As the film progresses, an occasional condemned man will be revealed as someone whom Srubov knows personally. These final meetings are horrifying. They, perhaps, even disturb Srubov.The Chekist may not be a film for everyone but it is one that will produce a response. One cannot watch this film passively.

This movie is definitely one of the darkest views on the Red Terror genocide that took place in 1918-1921 in Russia. Totally gripping and shocking as it can be...My opinion is that this movie reveals more historic facts than any other such movies about genocide(Schindler List,Hotel Rwanda) and unlike Hollywood sappy crap,this has no sentimental characters,only the bloody and merciless face of Russian revolution. Actors play is absolutely realistic,execution scenes are deeply disturbing.Probably the most shocking Russian film in years(even more shocking than 4) If you want to have an unforgettable evening,see it...it will stick in your mind for a long time! Rogozhkin should have stick up with this kind of movies...not like he does now,about Russian hunting and vodka bar.

The above reviews have captured "The Chekist" pretty well. It's all that! But above all, extremely sad. Absolutely pitiful that men like this actually existed and committed the same atrocities as depicted here. Some of the scenes are hair-raising, as these poor people meekly and silently accept their fate and are slaughtered without trial or mercy.I have not seen the movie in a few years, but it one of the ONES that will always stick with me. I can still hear the echoes of the pistol shots that resound with a horrific "BANG". And of course, the bodies. The treatment these people received is beyond what I can say. This film is almost must see, but I can understand why someone would prefer not to watch it. To watch this classic is to understand that it probably will stay with you for a very long time. And it should.

A small Russian town in the early 1900's is the backdrop for this deeply disturbing film about a group of communist revolutionaries called the cheka-men who spend their days rounding up their political rivals for execution.The majority of the film takes place inside the basement of a charnel house. We are witnesses to execution after execution as people are killed with rapid expediency and professionalism. Men, women and children are forced to strip, stand against a wall, and then are shot. When the dead are removed, five more are brought in and the atrocity is committed again.There is not a moments reprieve from the brutality as director Rogozhkin plants the camera and the story inside that basement. I found his examination of the assassin's mindset most interesting. Early on, the cheka-men seem indifferent to their jobs, but as the film winds down, we see that all the killing has slowly begun to erode their very souls.Igor Sergeyev is amazing as the ambitious chekist who finds himself caught up in a machine of death that he helped to create and slowly losing his mind.The film is like passing a car accident on a highway, it's horrible and you might not like what you see but you can't take your eyes off of it. A disturbing film that is hard to forget.