The action takes place shortly after the end of the Second World War in the Siberian hinterland, among Russians and Germans with damaged personal stories and a strange transformation: the victors seem to be crawling into the skins of the defeated, and vice versa. Ignat, is the embodiment of the larger-than-life image of the Soviet victorious warrior who, in fact, proves to be shell-shocked, sick and broken, although not completely destroyed. Trains become fetish for the heroes of the film, and speed becomes a mania; they virtually become one with their steam engines, while the machines take on human names. The heroes set up an almost fatal race in the Siberian forest, risking their own lives and those of others.
Cinematography
Siberia as beautiful, indifferent death machine.
Acting
Mashkov's Ignat: broken giant, terrifying and pitiable.
Production
Working steam trains shot like living beasts.
Director
Alexei Uchitel
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The steam trains were fully operational 1940s models; insurance refused to cover actors during speed sequences.
Released for Russia's 2010 WWII victory commemorations, it scandalized veterans by humanizing German characters—Uchitel faced official pressure.
RU
