Wings is a fascinating portrait of a woman ex-bomber pilot who is out of her element in the earth-bound boredom of postwar society. It was probably Larissa Shepitko's most controversial film; the generational conflicts explored in Wings and the deep divisions within Soviet society which the film exposed made it a focus for bitter debate. Nadezhda Petrovna is a 42-year-old provincial school mistress and unmarried guardian of an adopted daughter. Rigidity and an authoritarian manner are the painful defenses she has developed against a generation of students seemingly blind to the political passions that inspired her own youth and made her a national hero in her day. As she wanders through the familiar terrain of her memories in an effort to reconcile them with an alien reality, Shepitko's imagery brilliantly captures the struggle. Nadezhda Petrovna is portrayed with great depth and subtle humor by Maya Bulgakova. On viewing Wings at its first Western screening in 1978, Variety critic Ron Holloway noted Shepitko's "mastery of the rhythmic blending of reality and fantasy," and called the film "a milestone in the development of the New Soviet Cinema."