directed by Federico Ferrone e Michele Manzolini | 2019 / 70′

1941. An Italian soldier sets off for the Soviet front. The Fascist army is allied with the Nazi forces, and victory seems within reach. The convoy moves forward amid songs and hope.
The soldier’s mind drifts back to the melancholy fairy tales told to him by his Russian mother. Unlike many of his young comrades, he has already experienced war, in Africa, and he fears it. The train crosses half of Europe, venturing deep into the vast Ukrainian territory. With the arrival of winter, enthusiasm collapses under the weight of the first deaths, the freezing cold, and the snow. Desires grow simpler: no longer victory, but a warm bed, food, a return home. The immense steppe, swept by blizzards, seems haunted by ghosts.