In the Fog

In the waning days of World War II, a rail worker living in German-occupied USSR faces execution by his own comrades after being accused of sabotage by the enemy and then inexplicably freed. Adapted from a novel by Vassili Bykov, IN THE FOG opens in 1942. The Germans have gained a foothold on the western edge of the USSR, but local partisans have proven fiercely resistant. When a German train is derailed, innocent Souchenia (Vladimir Svirski) is accused by the Nazis of sabotaging the tracks. Just as Souchenia makes his way to the gallows along with the rest of the accused, however, the German officer who arrested him sets him free in a cunning effort to draw the resistance fighters out into the open. Later, under the shroud of darkness, righteous partisans Burov (Vladislav Abashin) and Voitik (Sergei Kolesov) drag Souchenia from his home, and march him into the forest for execution. Strangely, Souchenia remains calm and collected while discussing the nature of guilt and punishment with his captors. Meanwhile, a German ambush is closing in, and when Souchenia winds up alone in the fog with a wounded enemy, both find themselves set adrift in the moral haze of war.