Soviet cinema's hidden war epic: 149 minutes of mud, fire, and barely any heroes.
Cinematography
Belarusian mud becomes a character—visceral, suffocating.
Direction
Chetverikov's only feature: precise, unforgiving, rarely seen.
Director
Vitaliy Chetverikov
Yuriy Kayurov
Victor Lagun
Leonid Nevedomsky
Sergey Kalinovsky
Mikhail Gluzskiy
Guzey
Vladimir Kozel
Gorbunov
Yevgeni Shutov
Orlov
Antanas Šurna
Pogudalov
Pyotr Glebov
Surovtcev
Roman Khomyatov
Zimenko
Aleksandr Kharitonov
Ivan'ka
Tatyana Fyodorova
Alyona
Vladimir Ivashov
Alexandr Korol'
Andro Kobaladze
Stalin
Hannjo Hasse
Reingardt
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot on location in Belarus near actual 1944 battle sites; some extras were survivors of those campaigns.
Released during Brezhnev's stagnation, its bleakness reportedly displeased officials who preferred heroic war narratives.
SU
