The Hitlerian army has merely encroached upon the territory of Ukraine, and the majority of the local people have been already ready to cave in to a new regime. The Ukrainian policemen have killed the boy. It is clear that there is no hope to expect the justice from the invaders, that’s why the killed boy’s mother declares the war on the hangsman.
The film is a poetic adaptation of a series of stories (oral and written) about Princess Olha of Kyivan Rus' (Ukraine-Rusʹ) at the start of the 11th century. Inspired by chronicles and folk legends this is a story of a common girl Olha who married Prince Ihor and became his successor on the throne after his murder and one of the most remarkable political leaders in early medieval European history. She converted to Christianity and brought her realm into Europe.
A beautiful man, husband, father and worker Pavel Ivanovich Vasin got into the eye with a shard of the mirror of an evil wizard. And the world for him appeared in a gloomy light. He began to insult and offend everyone at home and at work. Anger and suspicion overwhelmed Vasin's heart. Enemies, schemers and thieves are seen everywhere. Everywhere he sees intrigues and intrigues. In complete despair from the ineradicability of evil, Vasin cries bitterly... along with tears, the unfortunate splinter disappears...
The action takes place during World War II and the German occupation of Ukraine, in a small village. During clashes on the road, the village boy Vasyl, one of the local partisans, killing a German officer. The occupants take hostages and vow to execut all village inhabitants will beed, including old people and children, if the perpetrator is not found and delivered to them. The problem of choice faces the fellow villagers and Vasyl himself.
The film is striking it its black-and-white imagery unfolding not so much against, as together with, the emotionally intense music by Pederecki, Bakki, and Skoryk. Conscience is absolutely free of Soviet ideological clichés obligatory for the WWII genr, and was immediately banned by the Soviet censorship. It was first restored in 1989 by the Dovzhenko Studio and in 2011 by the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture.
