This film is a “sketch” for the five hour documentary “Spiritual Voices.” The material, shot by Sokurov's crew on the border of Afghanistan as Russian soldiers carry on with their frontier patrol duties, becomes a parable. The young soldiers resting after their duties personify the difficult and grave task which burdens youth: to ensure peace and calm. A young person on the border between life and death is a recurring poetic motif in Alexander Sokurov's feature films. Here the documentary footage is transformed into
“a soldier on the border of peace and war.” It is a tragic theme — and a very Russian one.
Alexandra Tuchinskaya English translation by Tatiana Ussova with assistance from Benjamin Halligan. http://sokurov.spb.ru