A soldier returns home to find revolution's promise drowning in weeds of corruption.
David Motuzka, demobilized Red Army soldier, returns to his native village, hoping to see the changes caused by the revolutionary events. But he cannot see no improvement. The village is ruled by the kulaks and David's childhood friend Kornii Matiukha helps them.
Acting
Mykolaichuk's haunted eyes say everything dialogue won't.
Cinematography
Mud and grey skies as character, not backdrop.
Direction
Bukovskyi's restraint lets horror breathe in silences.
Director
Anatolii Bukovskyi
Ivan Mykolaichuk
David Motuzka
Vladimir Volkov
Korney Matyukha
Liliia Dziuba
Zinka
Fedir Panasenko
Tikhon Kozhushnyi
Ada Sheremetyeva
Maria
Danylo Ilchenko
Nazarovych, David's father
Olga Nozhkina
Motuzchikha, David's mother
Nina Antonova
Khrystia Motuzka
Arkadi Trusov
Gordiy Chumak
Ivan Matveyev
Khomenko
Serhii Kustov
Ilko
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of 1960s Ukrainian 'poetic cinema' movement that Soviet authorities later suppressed; Mykolaichuk became its tragic icon.
Kornii's arc mirrors how Soviet rural bureaucrats co-opted revolutionary language to maintain old power structures.
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