Synopsis/Details
In the turbulent aftermath of the Russian Revolution, idealistic revolutionary Fanny Kaplan becomes disillusioned with the new Bolshevik regime, believing that Vladimir Lenin has betrayed the very freedoms the revolution promised. Convinced that the movement has been hijacked by authoritarian power, Kaplan takes a desperate stand and attempts to assassinate Lenin outside a Moscow factory in 1918.
Lenin survives the attack, but the Soviet leadership moves swiftly to eliminate any threat to the fragile new government. Arrested and interrogated by the feared head of the secret police, Felix Dzerzhinsky, Kaplan is condemned as the assassin and executed without trial. Her body is burned in secrecy, her name sealed into the official record as the woman who tried to kill the leader of the revolution.
Years later, after Lenin’s death in 1924, doctors preparing his body for embalming remove the bullets that had remained lodged inside him since the attack. Their examination reveals a troubling discovery—the bullets do not match the caliber of Kaplan’s pistol.
Faced with evidence that could rewrite history, Soviet authorities quietly suppress the report, preserving the official narrative while burying the truth.
The revolution moves forward.
But the mystery of who truly fired the shot that nearly changed history remains unanswered.
