Banned for fifteen years, Guerman'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 Guerman, 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. Scandalized, they even ordered the film studio to pay compensation for the money “wasted” on the project, and later fired the studio chief. Filmed in 1971, the film was finally released in 1986, during a political thaw. “Why was it banned?” recalled Guerman. “Because it was about Stalin's methods of managing the people, of treating the people.”