Genre: Drama/Action

Duration: 124 mins

Format: 35mm Film

Director: Aleksei Uchitel

Cast: Vladimir Mashkov, Sergey Garmash, Anjorka Strechel, Aleksei Gorbunov, Anna Ukolova, Vyacheslav Krikunov

Awards: Nominated for Best Foreign Film (2011 Golden Globe Awards) Best Film (2010 Nika Awards) Best Film (2010 Golden Eagle Awards)

At the end of WWII in a far flung prisoner of war camp in Siberia a decorated tank commander returns from the front with an insatiable passion for trains. Alpha male Ignat (Mashkov) upsets the delicate balance of the settlement and the authority of its one-armed commander. Posted as a train engineer, Ignat learns that on an isolated island there is a ruined German-made steam-train. He gets to work restoring it to its former glory. But hiding within its carriages is the feral Elza, the sole surviving member of a German party that had come to Siberia in 1940 as train engineers. Although neither speaks the other's language, Ignat tames Elza, forcing her cooperation in repairing the train's engine and the broken bridge and eventually, with the train running at full speed, they tame the settlement together. The larger-than-life characters and the heaving steampunk aesthetic, where trains are celebrated as deities, makes for an epic cinema experience.