“The whole story seemed very modern to me. There is a reason Chekhov’s [The Seagull] [has] become the emblem of The Moscow Art Theatre. He has great potential and no matter how many times Chekhov is staged he will never lose his value and topicality. But if we left the action in the beginning of the 20th century, it would give a feeling of something artificial, cinematographic; and here we have an attempt to place Chekhov’s story into modern and, I lay special emphasis on that, real ambience.” ? Karen Shakhnazarov In this contemporary reinterpretation of Chekhov’s short story, Dr. Ragin is the chief at a psychiatric hospital, totally disinterested in his charges. After one of his stranger patients beguiles him, he spends all his time with the man, effectively locking himself away from the outside world ? and becoming a patient at his own facility. [Ward No. 6] is a film filled with paradoxes, anxieties, and conundrums that is every bit as disturbing ? and oddly hopeful ? as the classic story.