Prize of the INTERFILM Jury, Oberhausen 1989

An act of self-destructive violence leads to the death of a group of young Soviet soldiers at the hands of one of their comrades. Without passing judgement on the victims or the perpetrator, the documentary explores the social causes and the sequence of events leading up to this tragedy, and documents the horror and outrage felt by the victims’ relatives and friends. It directly addresses, for the viewers, the dimensions of guilt and atonement, responsibility and justification.