Five young Soviet Army recruits struggle for survival against the merciless violence that surrounds them on a daily basis. Their only means of saving their dignity is by preserving the humanity and compassion they share for each other. Visually astonishing and emotionally jarring, this film is Hussein Erkenov's courageous and stinging indictment of Communism. Banned by the Soviet censors upon its initial release, the film had to be smuggled out of the country to make its worldwide premier at the 1995 Berlin Film Festival. Some reviewers have remarked about an alleged homoerotic undertone to the film. While the scenes in the bathhouse are very representative of the activity in both civilian and military bathing institutions, the homoerotic interpretations are not. Soldiers suspected of having homosexual tendencies quite often did not make it alive out of basic training.

DVD-R is in Russian with switchable English and German subtitles. Approx. 66 mins. See film sample for audio and video quality!