The Dawns Here Are Quiet
(1972)
★ 8.1 IMDb · 5,071 votes
Year: 1972
Runtime: 180 min
Country: Soviet Union
Director: Станислав Ростоцкий
Cast: Андрей Мартынов, Ирина Долганова, Елена Драпеко, Екатерина Маркова, Ольга Остроумова
Plot
In a remote village in Karelia, Sergeant Vaskov commands an anti-aircraft unit that protects a rail depot. While his men are transferred to the front line, he is reprimanded for their unruly behavior. He retorts that he wants replacements that aren't drunks or womanizers. In response, he is assigned a unit made up entirely of young women, fresh from training.
Based on the eponymous book by Boris Vasilyev, the film is set in Karelia (North-West of Russia, near Finland) in 1941 during World War II. In a beautiful and quiet wilderness far from the front-line there is an anti-aircraft artillery point, where corporal Vaskov is stationed with a group of many young women in training. One of the women while sneaking from camp to visit her young son sees two German paratroopers. Vaskov takes five of the women to stop the two paratroopers, but finds sixteen paratroopers instead, leaving the small group of patriots to engage the enemy in an unequal fight.