A drama based on the novel of the same name by A. Priskavin. It tells the tragic story of two orphan brothers who, in 1944, were taken along with other children from an orphanage in a town near Moscow to the Caucasus, from where the Chechen population had been deported.
Direction
Mamilov's unflinching gaze at Soviet crimes.
Acting
Bashkirov brothers bring devastating authenticity.
Director
Sulambek Mamilov
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The title comes from a Pushkin poem about freedom and exile — bitter irony given the film's subject.
Shot in 1990 as Glasnost cracked censorship open; one of the first Soviet films to confront the 1944 deportations directly. Mamilov himself was Ingush, making this personal excavation.
SU
