This film is Alexei German's solo directorial debut which took a philosophical approach to the Soviet usage of "heroes" and "traitors". Screenplay by A. German and Eduard Y. Volodarsky (1941-2012), the film is based on the novel of his father (Operatsiya "S Novym Godom", or Operation "Happy New Year"), Yuri German (1910-1967), a Soviet novelist, screenwriter, and journalist.[7] The original film title was that of the novel.
Plot
A memorial plaque to Alexander Lazarev. It mentions several Lazarev's depictions in literature and film
The drama takes place in December 1942 during the Nazi occupation of the USSR in World War II.
It revolves around the former Red Army sergeant Lazarev who was captured in his German uniform by Soviet partisans. Earlier he was captured by the Nazis and became a collaborator (hiwi), but after being captured by partisans he starts fighting against the Nazis.
The title of the film was based on real events: partisans used to stop a truck full of "politsais" (police made of local collaborators) or Vlasovites and shoot them all after a brief trial, leaving one to tell the story. Lazarev's character is based on a real person as well, but his real-life role was to penetrate Vlasov detachments to convince Vlasovites to give themselves up.[8] In the film, Lazarev voluntarily gives himself up to partisans, and two partisan leaders (of antipodal characters), Commander Lokotkov and Commissar Petushkov, put the collaborator to the test.[5] For some partisans, he will be always a traitor and treated with suspicion, but for others this former Red Army officer, by joining the group of partisans, has to prove himself on the battlefield as a patriot and hero. In the end he got killed in action distinguishing himself by bravery and heroism.
The "Trial on the Road" film was shot in 1971, but was banned for 15 years. It was "shelved" for the film's theme: it was harshly criticized for "deheroization of partisan movement" and for sympathy to a traitor, or collaborator with Nazi forces, but who becomes a hero in fighting against the Germans on the Soviets' side. This "anti-heroic" depiction of Soviet history shows that distinctions like "traitor" and "hero" cease to have any real meaning, according to Alexei German's humane portrait of wartime. The film was released in 1987, during "perestroika" in the Soviet Union.[9]
^Nancy Condee (2009). "Aleksei German: Forensics in the Dynastic Capital". The Imperial Trace - Recent Russian Cinema. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 185–216. ISBN019045122X.
