One border guard. One traitor. Three decades of Soviet cat-and-mouse that refuses to end.
Yakov Koreshnikov, a border guard with extensive experience, is leading an operation to detain a group of foreign agents. Back in the 20s, he participated in the liquidation of the Basmachi gang. Then he first met the traitor Abzal. During the Great Patriotic War, Koreshnikov again had to face him. The saboteurs sent to the Turkestan highway area were then destroyed, but Abzal managed to escape. And here is their last meeting...
Cinematography
Harsh Central Asian landscapes shot like another character in the chase.
Acting
Dedovich's weathered patience versus Akhmedov's slippery survivalism.
Production
Spanning three eras with period detail that Soviet budgets rarely allowed.
Director
Yuri Stepchuk
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during Brezhnev's stagnation era, the film's relentless pursuit of traitors mirrored official paranoia about ideological purity. The Basmachi movement—real Muslim resistance to Soviet rule—gets simplified into banditry.
Director Khachaturoff spent years in Soviet Central Asia; this was his only feature. The 190-minute runtime made it nearly unscreenable in standard Soviet cinema slots.
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