Two Cossacks escape Turkish captivity and walk home through hell — 75 minutes of pure Soviet grit.
The story of two Cossacks from Zaporizhzhya Sich, who had been taken as prisoners by the Turks, but were able to release themselves and get home. But it is going to be a long way and it is very unsafe, so the heroes will find many dangers and obstacles.
Cinematography
Ukrainian steppes shot like a funeral for something already lost.
Acting
Serdyuk and Havryliuk communicate whole histories in shared silences.
Direction
Shylenko refuses heroism — just exhausted men walking toward death or dinner.
Director
Borys Shylenko
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during perestroika but set in 18th century, the film quietly interrogates Soviet myths of national heroism while Ukraine was still under Moscow's rule.
Shylenko filmed the escape sequences in actual Crimean locations that would, three decades later, become central to the 2014 annexation crisis.
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