Vladimir Denisenko - Sovist AKA Conscience (1968)

Quote:
The story is set in a small village during the German occupation of Ukraine. When one of the local partisans kills a German officer, the occupants vow to kill the whole village if the perpetrator is not found and delivered to them. What would your conscience tell you to do if the choice was between your own life and that of an entire village? Conscience is a striking combination of expressionistic, metaphorical images and dramaturgic realism, and the soundtrack darkens the mood. Due to the film’s themes, it did not see wide release until perestroika. Made by students of the directing-acting workshop of Vladimir Denisenko at the Kiev National I. K. Karpenko-Kary Theatre, Cinema and Television University, it was only allowed to be made because it was never to be screened. Nowadays, the film is considered a classic of Ukrainian cinema.

Sergei Loznitsa
“It is simply a fortunate coincidence that this film survived years of censorship during the Soviet ‘60s and was finally released at the end of the ‘80s. The director made it together with his students, and this “cover” of being a film school project made the entire production possible. The film presents the horror of war as an existential drama, which radically differs from the traditional Soviet approach, in which war is presented almost exclusively through the prism of patriotic pathos.”