The Train to Moscow

A nostalgic journey through the fading dream of the Soviet utopia.

Through the 8mm footage of Italian barber and filmmaker Sauro Ravaglia, The Train to Moscow captures the hopes and disillusionment of a generation that believed in the Soviet dream. A poetic reflection on ideology, memory, and the distance between utopia and reality.

Long Synopsis:
The Train to Moscow tells the story of Sauro Ravaglia, an amateur filmmaker, barber, and devoted communist from post-war Italy, whose youthful dream was to witness the Soviet Union, the promised land of equality and justice. Along with his friends, Sauro sets out for Moscow to attend the World Festival of Socialist Youth, armed with an 8mm camera to document what they believe will be a journey to a better world.

The film unfolds through Sauro’s lost images and his present-day reflections. “To understand why we went to Moscow, you have to know where we come from,” he recalls, evoking his humble origins as the son of peasants who endured fascist oppression. What begins as a journey of hope and admiration soon turns into an awakening. The grandeur of Stalin’s regime and the idealized vision of a workers’ paradise give way to a more complex and sobering reality.

Combining rare archival footage with personal memory, The Train to Moscow becomes a hypnotic exploration of belief, nostalgia, and the contradictions between ideology and lived experience. Through the grainy texture of 8mm film, it revisits a time when faith in collective ideals clashed with the tangible truth of everyday life, capturing the end of an era; and the end of a dream.