Melodramatic movie with colorful elements of comedy and songs that have deeply rooted in the Latvian folklore. Love triangle - terminally ill university teacher, blind girl and young bard. In the background - wild arrival of the capitalism, political conflicts, city life and beautiful nature of Latvia. In the end love conquers everything though not everybody lives to witness that.
In one of the prestigious restaurants during banquet speech a large company's director Palmgren is killed in front of dozen guests . Case is lead by Criminal Investigation Officer Pierre Monson with his assistants. Suspect can be easily intercepted if only miserably lazy police officers Kvant and Kristiansson instead of catching criminal would not argue with father of little 3 years old boy who yelled: "Police, police, mashed potatoes" when they ate hot dogs. Help comes from capital in form of the famous Commissioner Martin Beck, who discovers that murdered industrialist was involved in illegal activities and had many enemies. The case is linked as well with government's "higher ends".
Arvīds Lasmanis can't hold any job for long because he is not ready to tolerate deceit and slapdash work. He still has to feed his family, buy chance he finds a well-paid job as a gravedigger. A friend helps Arvīds to find a place in a construction team, but other workers don't approve of Arvīds' high principles. His wife accuses him of not knowing how to make money, the family lives crammed in one room of a shared flat. The Soviet absurd comedy tells a story about a man who, while at odds with the system, won't lose his conscience and his true self, even if it means saying no to wealth and comfort.
레조 치크하이드체 감독은 당시 예산의 어려움으로 이룰 수 없었던 컬러영화의 꿈을 이루고, 컬러영화에 친숙한 현재의 관객에게 다가가기 위한 방법으로 색채복원을 결심했다고 한다. 그의 감수 하에 새로운 색채기술로 복원된 는 오랜 기간 외면 받고 경시되었던 색채복원에 새로운 관점을 제시한다. 2차 세계대전의 와중, 그루지야의 작은 마을에서 평범한 농부로 지내던 게오르기는 아들의 부상 소식을 듣고 전장으로 향한다. 그러나 아들을 찾기란 쉽지 않다. 결국 게오르기는 소련 군대와 함께 아들이 싸우고 있는 최전선으로 향한다. 전쟁영화이며 동시에 로드무비인 이 영화는 당시 상업적인 성공과 함께 모스크바국제영화제에서 남우주연상을 수상하며 작품성을 인정받았다. (2012년 제17회 부산국제영화제)
