Dead Man's Letters (Russian: Письма мёртвого человека) is a 1986 Soviet post-apocalyptic drama directed by Konstantin Lopushansky and starring Rolan Bykov, with a script by Vyacheslav Rybakov and Boris Strugatsky.
The film is set in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust, where a group of people are forced to live in underground bunkers, which they cannot leave without donning gas masks and protective clothing. The survivors attempt to find what little hope they can in this ruined world. Among the survivors is Prof. Larsen (Bykov), a history teacher who attempts to contact his missing son via letters.
Compare The Day After and Threads, to which this film could be considered their Soviet counterpart.
Dead Man's Tropes:
- After the End: The film is set in a ruined town following a nuclear war, whose inhabitants are forced to live underground and cannot leave their shelter without protective clothing due to the massive amount of radioactive fallout in both the air and soil.
- Black Comedy: According to Prof. Larsen, the apocalypse was caused when a computer error caused the first missile launch, and a technician attempted to stop it, but was unable to do so because he was slowed down by a cup of coffee in his hands.
- Bolivian Army Ending: The film ends with Larsen's students leaving the bunker to go search for life elsewhere, their ultimate fates unknown.
- Deliberately Monochrome: The film is shot in an eerie sepia tone.
- No Name Given, With the exceptions of Prof. Larsen, his son Erik, Anna, and Theresa, none of the other characters are named at any point in the film.
- Posthumous Narration: In the final scene, it is revealed by one of Larsen's students that the professor died shortly after writing his letters, and that they are being read posthumously.
- Spoiler Title: The title spoils the reveal that Prof. Larsen's letters to his son are being read posthumously.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: The director deliberately went out of his way to make the film's geographical setting ambiguous. All we know is that the story is not set in the former USSR, something which is made clear by the appearance of Western equipment and consumer products. The characters' names suggest that the most likely setting is somewhere in Scandinavia, possibly Norway or Sweden.
