Trip to Erzurum

Trip to Erzurum (1937) is a Soviet historical film you can watch online on iFILM — with Dmitry Zhuravlyov in the lead role of Pushkin.

It's 1829. Alexander Pushkin is finished with St. Petersburg and the quiet surveillance of police chief Benckendorff. Without waiting for official clearance, he heads south to the Caucasus, where the Russian army is at war with the Ottoman Empire. He stops in Tiflis — now Tbilisi — and while waiting for permission to enter the front zone, he discovers Georgian culture: ancient songs, the poetry of Shota Rustaveli, the hospitality of local princes.

The film draws on Pushkin's own travel journal, published in 1836. Rather than a conventional biography, it's a portrait of a poet choosing movement over captivity. Stream Trip to Erzurum online on iFILM.