Plot
Growing up in a Ukrainian peasant family, knowing all hardships of serf life, young artist and poet Taras Shevchenko in the years of study clearly identifies the meaning of true art, which is to serve the interests of the people. The poems of Shevchenko are imbued with love for the common people. Fiery freedom-loving creativity of Taras Shevchenko is known throughout Russia. Nicholas I exiles the poet to the distant Caspian fort where he is to serve as an ordinary soldier and is banned from writing or drawing. In the poet's difficult days he has the support of Ukrainian soldier Skobelev, Polish revolutionary Sierakowski, captain Kosarev and the commandant of the fortress, Uskov. For the sake of his release Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov are hard at work. And so, the sick and aged Shevchenko is finally free. Together with Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov, he dreams of a bright future of the motherland, when the Russian and Ukrainian peoples throw off the chains of slavery.
Trailer
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Cast
Sergei Bondarchuk
Taras Shevchenko
Vladimir Chestnokov
Nikolay Chernyshevsky
Nikolai Timofeyev
Nikolay Dobrolyubov
Hnat Yura
Mikhail Shchepkin
Ivan Pereverzev
Zygmunt Sierakowski
Nataliia Uzhvii
Yaryna Shevchenko
Evgeniy Samoylov
Nikolay Speshnev
Mikhail Kuznetsov
Skobelev
Aleksey Konsovskiy
Kurochkin
Mark Bernes
Kosarev
Dmytro Milyutenko
Irakli Uskov
Marianna Strizhenova
Agafia Uskova
Lavrenti Masokha
Nikolay Kostomarov
Pavel Shpringfeld
Panteleimon Kulish
Mikhail Troyanovsky
Leonty Dubelt
Mikhail Nazvanov
Nicholas I / Alexander III
Aleksandr Khvylia
Pan Barabash
Garen Zhukovskaya
Pani Barabash
Mykhailo Vysotskyi
Evdokim Lukashevich
Gennadi Yudin
Provocateur
Leonid Kmit
Obryadin
Aleksandr Baranov
Potapov
Vyacheslav Tikhonov
Cameo
Aleksandr Kelberer
Count Fyodor Tolstoy
Anna Kushnirenko
Shchepkin's sister (uncredited)
