‘A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisvitch’ personalizes the horrors of Stalin’s Russia better, in my opinion.
I read “The Gulag Archipelago” before I read “A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisvitch” so I think it had a deeper effect on me, but I agree, it is a powerful tale.
For a movie that illustrates the situation and provides a cautionary tale of where we could go as a country, “The Lives of Others” is a very powerful movie.
The part that really got my attention was when they were planting bugs in the apartment, and the main character sees a flash in a keyhole in the adjoining apartment, indicating someone was watching them through the keyhole.
The knock on the door that followed was indeed the characteristic knock of the state, and the woman knew it.