Exile in Büyükada

2000 • 72 minutes

About this movie

Revolutionary theorist Leon Trotsky was one of the leading figures in Russia's 1917 October Revolution, which brought the Bolsheviks to power and spawned the creation of the Soviet Union. However, in time Trotsky and Joseph Stalin became sharply divided on many issues, and after ill health edged Lenin out of power, Stalin forced Trotsky into exile in 1929. Until his death in 1940, Trotsky spent his time in exile searching for a safe place to write and plan new political strategies; one of the first places where he settled was in Buyukada, Istanbul, where he lived from 1929 to 1933. Exile in Buyukada provides a fascinating account of Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky's exiled years living in Istanbul. The narration by Vanessa Redgrave lends accessibility to this inflammatory historical figure's life, while the cinematography fills the screen with beautiful, epic-minded imagery.