И была война

June 1941. Two young village boys are taken by surprise by the outbreak of war. One of them receives a summons to the draft board, although he is not at all eager to go to the front. Another boy, an ardent Komsomol member goes to the militia voluntarily. Accelerated military courses, broken first love - and a platoon of militia with our friends find themselves on the edge of the impending German armada ... The test by fire will show who is who ...

Is a war big or small for someone who has lost his life in it? It's a film-trip or, as it's called today, a road movie. The road to the war is a greater ordeal than a battle… In an unprecedented march the forty-thousand strong Bulgarian Army, crossing from the southern to the western frontier of the country, covers the distance in less than two days and two nights with no roads, railway or other means of transport available… and wins the war. But this seemingly chaotic whirl of events will clearly follow the path of a young woman from the grave of her child to the death of her husband. And there will be the Cripple – a boy with his romantic urge to die for his Fatherland dying in the most important battle in life – for human dignity. There are also the bodies of two men clinging to each other in Death’s grip among the reeds in the mud. The war has made them enemies but they are more like bleeding Atlas Telamons with a peaceful sky steady on their shoulders.