Zina (1985)

Zina (1985) is an award-winning film by director Ken McMullen. It tells a story of a twentieth century Antigone, Zinaida Volkova (Domiziana Giordano), daughter of Leon Trotsky. In 1930s Berlin, Zina is being treated by the adlerian psychotherapist Professor Arthur Kronfeld (Ian McKellen). During this psychoanalysis, which includes some hypnosis, she recalls incidents both from her own life and that of her father, as a leader of the Russian Revolution, as the holder of state power and later in exile. Against the background of the progressive deterioration of the situation in Europe, threatened by the rise of fascism and the spectre of the Second World War, Zina’s identification with Antigone becomes more and more credible. What were her hallucinations begin to take objective form on the streets. The dynamics of Greek tragedy, always waiting in the wings, step forward to take control. Zina has won many awards and is regarded by many as one of the great political motion pictures.