While digging one of the many tunnels for the Moscow metro, Soviet workers unearth ruins of a dungeon. The site is closed, the metro tunnel is diverted, and amidst the bustle no one notices the tunnel workers’ foreman pocketing a little ‘souvenir’ – a book-sized frame made of precious metals featuring an inscription in an unknown language. Decades later, the foreman’s grandson Ilya, who works as a courier, discovers the ancient relic in a pile of old junk. Oblivious to the true value of the family heirloom, he soon learns about it from a mysterious stranger. The relic is the key to the secret location of the priceless ancient library that belonged to Ivan the Terrible. What Ilya doesn’t know is that the search for the lost library has been going on for centuries, and now very powerful people are after him. Ilya and the mysterious stranger decide to try their luck in finding the library.
Todorovsky's film examines life in a provincial Russian town (that is too small to even appear on the map) just outside of Stalingrad during the famous WWII Battle. This is NOT a traditional war film, and the epic events of the battle take place almost entirely off screen. Instead, Todorovsky outlines a crude love triangle between three young people caught up in the harsh Russian winter. The stark winter settings, and the characters' struggle for survival, are what make this film one worth watching.
At the filming movie about the crusaders, in Turkey, with one of the stunts died in accident. Death of a stuntman was rigged by criminals, who smuggled a large shipment of drugs in the coffin. Producer Anton is killed, money stolen...
