Trouble with TolstoyNot just the author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina, two of the greatest novels ever written, Tolstoy was an enormously influential and prolific social, moral, and religious philosopher whose radical ideas still make him a highly controversial figure in Russia today. He espoused pacifism, an end to social hierarchy, vegetarianism, and rejected marriage. He also became a kind of fundamentalist christian and violently condemned the relationship between church and state. In 1901 he was ex-communicated from the church and attempts in 2000 to restore him were thwarted in the courtroom. In this film, Alan Yentob travels by train into the heart of Russia to hear what Russians talk about when they talk about Tolstoy. It’s a journey that offers a glimpse of the contemporary Russian soul.
