Despite following similar plots, Tolstoy’s A Prisoner in the Caucasus and Brodsky’s Prisoner of the Mountains offer wildly different portrayals of the Caucasian captors. In the former, Tolstoy emphasizes the exoticism of the Tartars: their Islamic practices, squabbling, consumption of horses, and surprise at Ivan’s tool proficiencies. By contrast, Prisoner of the Mountains acknowledges the different customs of the Chechens but does not embrace Russian ways as normal. While Dina appreciates Ivan’s crafts in both works, Prisoner of the Mountains establishes limits on Ivan’s relative craftsmanship with his refusal to fix the clock (on account of not having enough time). Also important is the disparity in mercy across the two works. Whereas the Tartars in the first work are made out to be vengeful, the sequence of the Brodsky film in which Abdul leads off Ivan to shoot him but then spares his life shows a merciful aspect. I agree with Colby in how this contrasts with Russia’s aggressive strategy; Ivan’s despair in the final sequence cements the associated critique.

Another key difference is in Dina’s characterization as quasi-love interest. In Tolstoy’s work, her fascination with Ivan primarily follows from her admiration of his doll making and broader ways. In this way, youth and openness to experience outside of the Tartar norms define her. By contrast, the Dina in Brodsky’s film has conversations with Ivan about her struggle to get married. In many ways, this resembles Ivan’s struggle to prove his masculinity. From the opening health screening, Ivan finds his genitals scrutinized. While imprisoned, Sasha suggests that Ivan may be castrated should he remain a slave to Abdul’s family. Later on, Ivan finds himself rejected as a participant in a fight, showing a failure of Ivan to attain the masculine norm of physical domination. In this way, Dina comes across as more mature, serving as an equal counterpart to the Russians rather than a plot device. In this way, Brodsky’s film foregoes banal exoticism tropes in favor of examining a common conflict between the individual and society. In this broad sense, the Chechens are assimilated into the Russian experience.