Anton Gorkavchenko

The story of the Podolsk cadets’ heroic stand outside Moscow in October 1941. Cadets were sent to the Ilyinsky line, fighting alongside units from the Soviet 43rd Army to hold back the German advance until reinforcements arrived. Hopelessly outnumbered, young men laid down their lives in a battle lasting almost two weeks to obstruct the far superior German forces advancing towards Moscow. Around 3,500 cadets and their commanding officers were sent to hold up the last line of defense outside Moscow. Most of them remained there for eternity.

The story is set at the 1972 Munich Olympics where the U.S. team lost the basketball championship for the first time in 36 years. The final moments of the final game have become one of the most controversial events in Olympic history. With play tied, the score table horn sounded during a second free throw attempt that put the U.S. ahead by one. But the Soviets claimed they had called for a time out before the basket and confusion ensued. The clock was set back by three seconds twice in a row and the Russians finally prevailed at the very last. The U.S. protested, but a jury decided in the USSR’s favor and Team USA voted unanimously to refuse its silver medals. The Soviet players have been treated as heroes at home.

Victor Gromov, once a legend of Moscow’s criminal underworld known under the nickname “Butcher”, has since retired and now spends his days enjoying life on his farm. One day, Victor’s former “colleagues” show up and tell him that he must store the mafia’s common fund in his offshore bank account. Victor has no choice but to help them. Several months later, on the day when he is supposed to give the money back, Victor gets hit on the head by a falling billboard. As a result, he forgets the password to his bank account. Fleeing for his life from his former cronies, Victor decides to hide in a freight train’s boxcar but ends up getting locked inside. The train departs, and several days later he finds himself thousands of kilometers away from Moscow, in a small northern town called Polyarny, which, as it turns out, is not so easy to get out of...