Review: Desyat Negrityat (1987)

Desyat Negrityat

Rating

Director

Stanislav Govorukhin

Screenplay

Stanislav Govorukhin

Length

2h 17m

Starring

Vladimir Zeldin, Tatyana Drubich, Alekxandr Kayadanovsky, Aleksey Zharkov, Anatoliy Romashin, Lyudmila Maksakova, Mikhail Gluzskiy, Aleksey Zolotnitskiy, Irina Tereshchenko, Aleksandr Abdulov

MPAA Rating

Not Rated

Review

One of the driving characteristics of past adaptations of Agatha Christie’s seminal work is a deviation from the source material. The Russian version of Ten Little Indians achieved that and set the standard for how to approach the material for future productions.

Ten strangers have been invited to a mysterious island off the coast of Devon. Thought once to have been owned by a notable American actress, the current ownership of the island is a mystery to all, including the guests. Several have been hired on while others are expecting to meet distant friends. Whatever their reason, the ten individuals find that they have been selected for an increasingly clear purpose, that of punishing them for crimes they were never convicted of.

Using the names from the novel, including that of General MacArthur, the most logical change to prior versions, they meet on the dock before being ferried across the sea to their isolated prison where they will all meet their fate. Writer/director Stanislav Govorukhin chose to remain faithful to the text of And Then There Were None, which shines through in the tension that builds as each of the victims meets their end. It’s the rendition readers have long wanted, hoping to find the bleakness of the novel envisioned on the big screen.

The only print available of the film featured relatively faded colors and felt dingy, but that didn’t take away from the dramatic events on the screen. What did distract was the terrible translation job that was done. Vera’s last name of Claythorne was mistranslated several times and seemed to change from use to use. Some of the dialogue was misattributed and some was absent altogether. For those who’ve read the book multiple times, the dialogue was understandable, but for those who aren’t as familiar, it could create a great deal of confusion.

What’s more aggressively awful was the use of and further translation of the titular slang of the film. The novel was originally released as Ten Little (N-words). The title of the film is a literal Russian translation of that: Desyat Negrityat. While it is faithful to retain the literal translation, it’s incredibly offensive. The translations don’t make matters much better by sticking with those literal translations in the subtitles from incorrectly using the pejorative “pickaninny” in an early scene of the film and then transitioning to the still inappropriate “negro.” It’s unclear how long ago this translation was put together, but even if it were done shortly after the film was released in 1987, it still wouldn’t have been an appropriate phraseology and remains the biggest issue one can have with watching the film.

Regardless of the literalities of linguistic usage, remaining faithful to the text is brilliantly handled. Govorukhin and cinematographer Gennadi Engstrem do tremendous work keep everything feeling claustrophobic. Throw in agoraphobia for the steep stairway leading up to the estate and you have a film that digs into the viewer’s psychology and triggers it. While the events on the island hold most of our attention, it is clear from an early scene in the film where they are on the dock and we’re watching them through the window of a nearby automobile that the director is interested in showmanship and creative lensing rather than just a simple retelling.

Fans of And Then There Were None (the title by which Christie’s novel is now published) will love the events and details of this film, reveling in all of Christie’s brilliance all the way to the shattering finale. For non-fans, it requires putting aside the distaste of the racist language and allowing the events to sweep them away. When compared with its predecessors, this version stands tall next to the first two pictures (and the TV miniseries) as examples of how to tell this tale well with maximum audience engagement.