A sniper, contrary to the laws of wartime, spared a young German, a member of the Hitler Youth. In this work, the past and the present are closely intertwined. Many passages of the film are directly linked to the current situation in Russia and Germany. Ioann Reiss, the former member of the Hitler Youth, after the war, goes over the events of the past in his mind, and constantly returns to the moment when he was spared. Why did the sniper not shoot him, when he had the obligation to do so? What had he felt, what had pushed him to act like this: strength or weakness? In his place, how would he have acted? It was necessary to find an answer to these questions. Reiss flies to Russia, to faraway Yakutia.
Humanism is the basic idea of this film. The story of this Yakut sniper, his love life, his friendships in wartime, his life as a hunter after the war, his grandson's education, his meeting with the former Hitlerite must serve to build up the youth in patriotism, in a spiritual encounter with the history of Russia. The prototype of the so-famous snipers must serve, through the mediation of cinema, for the spiritual elevation and patriotic education of the rising generation.
Film commissioned by the government of the Republic of Sakhra (formerly Yakutia)
