Sto dnei do prikaza

Five young soldiers in the Soviet army find themselves exposed to a cycle of constant violence. Rebelling in various ways against humiliation and the assault on their dignity, they somehow manage to seize carefree moments of intimacy – even though they suspect that their struggle will be in vain and they will not survive their military service. Touching each other casually with their eyes and their bodies, they flee into silent imaginings, desperate to escape the mercilessness of a dehumanised hierarchical system which they themselves are helping to maintain. Their intimacy, sense of community and imagination helps them find the strength they need to resist the madness of manoeuvres and their barracks. Inspired by the eponymous novel by Russian author Yuri Polyakov, Erkenov homes in on a group of young men in the military and highlights the effect that their desire for each other has on their daily army life. In disturbing, dreamlike images he gives form to their loneliness, fear of death and sense of longing in a world ruled by patriarchal structures of violence.