Wladimir Wyssozki played to sold-out halls and almost everyone knew some of his more than 600 songs, although they were never officially published during Soviet times. With his very lyrical lyrics offensively denouncing everyday socialist life and his unique voice, the songwriter was considered by many to be the "voice of Russia". At the latest through his marriage to the French actress Marina Vlady, he also achieved cult status abroad.
But Wyssozki was anything but an intellectual critic of the system. He lived a restless and wild life: he raced through Moscow in his Mercedes, wore hip clothes, smoked seemingly all the time, liked to get drunk and take drugs. He made his last appearance on 18 July 1980 - as Hamlet in Moscow's Taganka Theatre. A few days later, on 25 July, Vladimir Vysozky died of heart failure at the age of only 42.
At first glance, his artistic life seems schizophrenic - on the one hand, he is in the resistance and thus virtually an enemy of the state - the KGB secret service has more than one eye on him. At the same time, he is a star who gives great performances and travels halfway around the world with the Taganka Theatre.
In conversations with his son Nikita Wyssozki as well as with companions, friends, admirers and successors, the film goes on a search for traces in Russia. Even today, musicians sing his songs in pedestrian zones and his lyrics seem more relevant than ever.
