Mykola Kuchynskyi

The film is based on V. Yurezanskyi’s novel The Missing Village about the struggle of Ukrainian Cossacks for their freedom during the reign of Catherine II. Free Cossacks from the village of Turbai in Poltava region, who were included in registers of Myrhorod Pact, suddenly find out that at the order of Catherine II they become the property of the Ukrainian landlord, pan Bazylevskyi. He treats Cossacks like his usual serfs. Cossacks ask the empress for help, but receive no reply. Then, they rebel and set Bazylevskyi’s estate on fire. The owner and his family die during the fire. The vengeance of the Russian empress is terrible, as dozens of Cossacks are beaten to death, and the village of Turbai is doomed to destruction. The film is lost.

The defeated remnants of vile Ukrainian nationalists, headed by the leader of the Ukrainian liberation movement, Symon Petliura, cannot accept their historical fate and are plotting an insurrection against the Soviet regime in Ukraine. There is nothing Petliura and his cohorts would not do to win back control over Ukraine, including selling it to the highest bidder, in this case, the Polish dictator Jozef Pilsudski. A group of plotters are coordinating an insurrection in Kyiv with an attack from Poland headed by Petliura’s general Yurko Tiutiunnyk. Predictably, the invincible Red Army defeats the nationalist plotters and proves that the Soviet borders are impregnable.

Après la révolution russe de 1917, la bourgeoisie tient les rênes du pouvoir dans une Ukraine désormais indépendante. En janvier 1918, pour défendre leurs idéaux, les bolcheviks lancent une grève qui paralyse Kiev, la capitale. La révolte des ouvriers de l'arsenal va y être réprimée dans le sang.

The old nunnery owns the best lands. Nuns rent out the land to local rich men, and exploiting peasants they have a wealthy life. The peasants live in misery. Especially, the family of the peasant named Levin. He is forced to give away his last horse, his son Andrii is imprisoned, his daughter Nastia becomes a maid of a rich landlord. Trying to prevent the master’s harassment, Nastia escapes and gets to the nunnery. She can see the other life of the nuns who manufacture false relics, drink alcohol and kill children. Nastia ends up in the basement for resisting one of the “spiritual pastors.” Meanwhile, her brother Andrii escapes from prison. He stirs up a rebellion and saves his sister. The film is lost.