A Soviet Romeo in a foxhole — propaganda warfare meets dangerous romance behind enemy lines.
Volkhov Front in 1942. The young political instructor of the counter-propaganda department of the headquarters of the division Rusanov is torn to the forefront. Together with an experienced warrior — captain Shaternikov — the hero gets to the forefront and transmits from the sound transmission programs addressed to German soldiers. And in the hours of calm passes several kilometers in order to see Katya, the signal woman of a neighboring sector of the front.
Acting
Kosukhin's desperate eyes say what propaganda scripts cannot.
Cinematography
Mud, smoke, and stolen glances across no-man's-land.
Writing
A love story that weaponizes silence against state noise.
Director
Yuliy Fayt
Igor Kosukhin
Rusanov
Viktor Avdyushko
Shaternikov
Svetlana Svetlichnaya
Katya
Vladimir Belokurov
Shorokhov
Aleksandr Demyanenko
Runge
Yuriy Solovyov
"crossbow"
Andrey Fayt
Popov
Georgi Zhzhyonov
Sergei Nikolayevich
Oleg Belov
soldier with the telephone
Vladimir Volchik
soviet officer
Rita Gladunko
signal woman
Nikolai Gubenko
Buryanov
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Soviet 'trench cinema' of the 1960s used the Great Patriotic War to explore personal rebellion under totalitarianism—this film smuggled romance past censors disguised as patriotic duty.
Svetlichnaya became a Soviet sex symbol two years later in 'The Diamond Arm'; her casting here as Katya was controversial for bringing 'too much glamour' to the front line.
SU
