The Mark of Cain is a 2000 documentary film on Russian criminal tattoos directed by Alix Lambert.

[1] The Mark of Cain documents the fading art form and "language" of Russian criminal tattoos, formerly a forbidden topic in Russia.

The prisoners of the Stalinist Gulag, or "Zone," as it is called, developed a complex social structure (documented as early as the 1920s) that incorporated highly symbolic tattooing as a mark of rank.

Some estimates suggest that in the last generation over thirty million of Russia's inmates have had tattoos even though the process is illegal inside Russian prisons.

As these men deal with pestilence, violence and grossly substandard living conditions, the prison guards and administration put on a talent show.