This extraordinary, long-banned film deals with the bitter realities of waging the partisan struggle behind enemy lines in German-occupied Russia. Based on the war novels of Yuri Gherman, the director's father, the film is set in the winter of 1942 in an occupied region in Byelorussia. The partisans find themselves in a precarious position and facing certain starvation. Their only hope is to make off with a food car from the German freight train. The best man for the job is a quisling, a familiar face to the police guards along the road. The plot hinges on whether or not an officer's trust in the reformed traitor will prove justified, or a deadly error. Tension and character both are built on complex moral questions in this film of "poetic restraint...beautifully photographed in gritty black and white." (Judy Stone, Chronicle)