All heroes of this film were born on one day. All of them have decided to leave Russia. The film tells about their last three days in “this country”.
Commentaries and bibliography
"Is emigration possible in the world, in which
integration and absence of border is declared? Can
we call what is happening today another wave of
migration? Do the moral and ethical aspects of this
choice exist or these are rudiments of perception that
drag us back to the orphan past? It is difficult to provide
an unambiguous answer. But, eventually we have
to conclude that there is no emigration except for the
internal one. At the same time, the fact that today it
is possible to move and live anywhere does not make
any difference. Popular belief that «it is time to make
like a tree and leave» in practice appears not to be an
appeal to flee the country, but rather a formula for a
special regime of existence inside it. All the patriotic
accusations that one shall not call this country «this
country» are merely rhetorical delirium, as because
of them we do not cease to be its citizens. Anyway we
cannot yet develop immunity to these heavy meanings
and obligations, no matter how hard we would
like to get rid of them. I thought I was taking a film
about those who leave, while took it about those who
stay." Grigori Ryabushev
