The Barracks (Barak)

Barak is a simple portrait of the inhabitants of an old barracks converted to a communal residential neighborhood in a provincial town in the Urals in 1953, during the postwar rebuilding following the death of Stalin. The community is almost self-contained, which sets an example for the lives and loves of ordinary people in the rest of the Soviet Union during a period of upheaval. Twenty-three-year-old Olga, the sole survivor of a family wiped out in the siege of Leningrad, is the latest arrival to the barracks, where she does not know anyone. Alexei, a militia man, lives with his son Burka and his girlfriend Claudia. Jewish Jora, an eccentric photographer-cum-clown, is a former victim of Stalin's purges. Friedrich is an ex-Nazi soldier married to a Russian. Guerka is an alcoholic dove breeder and a former Nazi collaborator. Polina is a pretentious Ukrainian and Karim the Tatar is her companion. Olga gradually adjusts herself to the circumstances, living each day with moments of joy, sorrow, and unexpected incidents. (Gönül Dönmez-Colin)