Interesting. I have not seen the film, so will need to check it out. I think an active role in life is always the best, although it is all too easy to slip into passivity. Let life happen to you.

The loss of a sense of autonomy is a kind of death, so the strength of Ivan and the real people he was probably based upon is impressive. A life saver in such an environment. It is tempting to wonder how any of us would fare in a gulag ourselves. We all like to think we'd be the tough ones. But the deep sense of despair would be difficult to survive.