After leaving the hospital, Sergeant Katsuba, who has bid farewell to frontline service, travels to a provincial town to teach military science to cadets. However, his relationship with the 17-year-old boys does not go well: they consider their instructor to be unfair and overly critical...
Acting
Gostyukhin's physicality speaks what dialogue cannot.
Writing
No villains, just broken men failing each other.
Director
Nikolay Koshelev
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during Brezhnev's stagnant 1980, the film's unresolved ending was quietly radical for Soviet cinema's usual triumphalism.
Gostyukhin based Katsuba's limp on real disabled veterans he observed; the production initially wanted a more heroic portrayal.
SU
