The Great Consoler 1933

Saleswoman Dulcie Alexandra Khokhlova dreams of a better, more beautiful world, a vision drawn from the stories of writer Bill Porter Konstantin Khokhlov who becomes a prisoner with a surprising literary voice. Porter isn’t accused of serious crimes and, within the prison, he enjoys a degree of freedom of movement. The administration values him because, while serving his sentence, he writes stories with hopeful endings that offer a little light inside the system.

Soon, however, the apparent ease of his situation gives way to the harsh realities of prison life. The writer’s friend, Jim Valentine Ivan Novoseltsev, is severely beaten for political reasons, exposing the brutality that sits behind the veneer of order. Valentine is offered freedom in exchange for help opening a safe, a seductive proposal that makes Porter reflect on the possibility of his friend leaving behind the walls. These thoughts fuel a fresh strand of fiction for Porter, a new story anchored in the very moment he might lose someone close.

But the promise is not kept. Valentine dies, and his death triggers a revolt among the other inmates who are dissatisfied with the current regime. Dulcie’s rosy fantasies crumble as reality intrudes with brutal force, and she ultimately ends up killing her roommate in a moment of despair. Faced with the collapse of her dreamscape and the weight of the prison’s order, Porter reaches a hard-won conclusion about his power to change things from within the system.

He recognizes that he cannot resist the existing order, but he clings to a stubborn belief that someday, another order will come.