When the republic of Georgia declared war on the rebellious province of Abkhazia, many of the country's young artists and intellectuals responded to their government's call to fight. This would be surprising in the West, but Georgian director Gyorgy Khaindrava shows the touching and tragic combination of idealism, passion, and foolhardiness with which Tbilisi's best and brightest left for the front. Slowly, painfully, these sensitive, intelligent men come to grips with the fact that they have rushed into a vain, possibly wicked war-and they have blood on their hands. Khaindrava deliberately leaves the viewer to wonder where fiction ends and reality begins. However, the end of the film leaves no doubts about the war's tragic consequences.