During a flight the film’s main character, the boxing champion of Europe, reminisces about his life after a painful defeat in the ring. His childhood was during the very first years after the war. Fatherless, with his mother always away at work, older brother in prison and unable to form a relationship with his new stepfather, the young boy grew up and learned life on the streets. He came to believe in the strength of his fists and didn’t notice how this led to his loss of ethics and the dulling of his feelings. His failure in the ring gave Victor a great deal to think about. Perhaps he’ll have another shot at it…
Igor Sheshukov put a lot of himself into his feature-film debut. However, his portrayal of a Soviet sporting champion was unflattering and his vision of post-war reality was too dark for the Party censors. The film was banned in 1978 before it made it to screens. It was made available only after 9 years because of «perestroika». In the second release the song of Vladmir Vysotsky «The Ballade about Childhood», the lyrics to which the author refused to change, was partially reinstated. Another of Sheshukov’s films «The Last Hunt» (1979) was released in 70-mm format with few copies made and was on screens only a short time. All of this broke the director’s spirit. He filmed a couple more genre-pieces and two TV-films before his tragic death under unexplained circumstances on the set of the film «The Mystery» in 1992.
Source : http://festival-spb.ru