The film's title, We Were Young, is a line from a well known poem by Nikola Vaptsarov, who perished during the war and became the bard of the generation that survived the antifascist struggle. “In his whole poetry...one senses the sad longing of the author and his poetic heroes for a missed youth, unfulfilled dreams and unrequited love” (Hristo Santov, Bulgarian Films). The story is set against a war-torn city, where two lovers meet a tragic end at the hand of the fascists. The “visual memories left by the war...are transformed...into supremely dreamy, thought-provoking images, which (director) Zhelyazkova composed in the style of modern Bulgarian pictorial art... The emotional tension of the final prison scenes is unique in Bulgarian film. And yet, it did not get its strength from dramatic emphasis, but rather from a lyrical-poetic form, disarming in its spontaneity, immediacy and overt subjectivity....” (Liehm & Liehm, The Most Important Art)