AllMovie

Once again, Russian director Yulia Solnsteva fulfills her goal of directing movies that her late husband Alexandre Dovchenko scripted but did not live long enough to bring to the screen. In this standard wartime drama, the emphasis is on the heroics of both the civilians and the soldiers during times of severe stress in World War II. At the core of the action is one man in particular, whose sacrifices and heroics speak for a much larger group. Message aside, there are plenty of well-staged battle scenes to sustain attention.