Summary
Set against the backdrop of the New Economic Policy (NEP) in the Soviet Union, Mitya is a scathing exploration of provincial cruelty and the suffocating weight of social conformism. The narrative follows the titular protagonist, Mitya, a man whose life is upended by a singular act of altruism. While traveling to a celebration for his fiancée, Shurochka, Mitya encounters a dying woman abandoned with her infants. His decision to stay and provide aid marks the beginning of his social annihilation. When he later visits the orphaned children out of a sense of responsibility, the local townspeople—driven by the petty, suspicious logic of the 'philistine' class—conclude that he is the biological father. This unfounded rumor spreads like a contagion, leading to his immediate ostracization. Shunned by his bride and the community, Mitya is driven to the brink of suicide. However, a chance encounter with a stranger leads to a theatrical deception: Mitya fakes his death, only to literally rise from his grave during his own funeral to condemn the hypocrisy of the mourners before exiting their small-minded world forever.
Synopsis
Exposing the customs of provincial philistinism in the years of NEP. Small town. Mitya, going to the party of his bride Shurochka, finds a dying woman with infants. When he comes to visit the child, everyone decides that he was the father - and kicks him out. Mitya decides to drown himself. Unknown saves him and helps to stage his own funeral. During the mourning ceremony, Mitya rise from the grave, thanks the inhabitants petrified by horror, and leaves the city forever.