Boris Galkin

During the Russian Civil War, the production of a silent melodrama runs into numerous complications.

Four present-day Russian men dig for Nazi memorabilia at a WWII battlefield. A wormhole lake sends them back to a battle in 1942 USSR.

The main character Vorobei is a professional grave digger and alcohol addict, who runs away from hospital to dig graves instead of treating his head broken by his brother. He comes to cemetery and keeps on working, instead of his friends' advice to stay in the hospital. The world of death turns out to be surrounded by corruption, satanic money-making, cemetery mafia and lots of vodka.

The film is based on history of the Russian Military garrison in Sveaborg (Suomenlinna, near Helsinki) in Finland, which was an autonomous part of Russian Empire. In 1906 Russia had about 12 thousand troops stationed in Sveaborg fortress. The riots were provoked by the Socialist - Revolutionaries who spread influence on the minds of Sveaborg garrison. First acts of un-subordination broke on July 17, 1906, when revolutionary sailors were supported by mine-men. Minemen were arrested and disarmed by the infantry regiment. Gunners decided to release their comrades. The following fight ignited a bloody revolt, that was headed by lieutenants A. Yemelyanov and Y. Kohansky, members of the Lenin's Bolshevik party. A general strike began in Helsinki on the next day. The revolt lasted three days and was crushed by the Baltic Fleet naval bombardment. Over 40 men were executed, hundreds were sentenced to prison.

Young journalist Andrei Petrushov, who devoted a lot of time to searching for the missing manuscript of the writer Pustyrev, who was repressed in 1937, temporarily gets a job teaching Russian language and literature at school...

Following the Russian Civil War, a loyal Red, Shilov, must prove he is at home among strangers as he attempts to recapture a shipment of gold that he was supposed to deliver to Moscow. Needed as a means of buying food for the people, the gold Shilov was entrusted with is stolen, initially by a group of assassins and then by a group of bandits. In tracking the gold’s whereabouts, Shilov’s motives are questioned and he is suspected of treason, in part because his brother was a devoted White. In an effort to clear his name, Shilov locates the gold, but he also discovers rampant greed and corruption.

The continuation of a story started by Alexander Stolper epic movie "The Alive and the Dead".