The Cold Summer of 1953

Stalin dies and a broad amnesty follows. Most of those released are not political prisoners but serious criminals. In the summer of 1953 a group of them reaches a remote village in the north of the country and takes it over. There are no weapons in the village, most of the men are gone, and no help is coming. What stands against them are two political exiles who have lived there for years without telling anyone anything. Aleksandr Proshkin's film drew more than forty-one million viewers in the Soviet Union and was named the best film of its year. It was Anatoli Papanov's last role; his award for it came after his death.