Time does not exist in the psychiatric hospital in Surami, Georgia. Excruciatingly slowly, the days roll by in an endless stream. The patients wait. They wait for the soup to be ladled from the huge bucket, for a psychiatrist to find the time to examine them, for a breath of fresh air on the central lawn. But mostly, they wait for cigarettes. In the meantime they talk. About their lives, their dreams, and the hopelessness of their existence. Compelling and often moving Children of Stalin demonstrates the powerful will to survive of people in vulnerable circumstances. One forgets there is still a world outside the institution's walls.