“Banned for fifteen years, German’s solo directorial debut, set during WWII, marries the muscular dynamics of the war film with a more searing, philosophical approach to the thin line between official ‘heroes’ and ‘traitors.’ A former Nazi collaborator rejoins his Russian brethren to fight against the Germans; for some partisans, he is and always will be a traitor, but others allow him to prove himself—and his commitment—on the battlefield. For German, basic human concepts like loyalty, decency, and trust underline the film’s train-like narrative force and breathtaking black-and-white images; government censors, however, angered over the ‘immorality’ of portraying a former traitor as a hero, accused him of de-heroicizing Soviet history. . . . Filmed in 1971, the film was finally released in 1986, during a political thaw.” – Jason Sanders, Pacific Film Archive