Neighborhood

One of the first non-state funded films of an independent Ukraine, this study of a Ukrainian soldier dealing with the traditional abuse handed out to new recruits in the Soviet army is based on the real-life experiences of director Andrii Donchyk and writer Yurii Andrukhovych.

In early Summer 1941, German troops penetrate into Russia, wreaking human and material destruction. Ivan Orlyukov, a young Russian, takes up arms and rises up against the invader. He is not alone : a whole people struggles with him and manages, through their own self-sacrifice, to expel the Nazis from the motherland. Altogether, they fight fiercely till the full annihilation of the enemy.

Story of two brothers who go off to France to fight in World War I, the women who love them and an American expatriate living in France who rallies behind his former country.

On the eve of the Nazi occupation, spies in Paris try to outguess each other

Without news of his companion Seif, Palestinian freedom fighter disappeared in Beirut, Houria, stewardess in an Arab company, goes to Tunisia in search of Khalil, war photographer, last to meet the missing. She falls into a real Traquenard: refugees with their suite in an old disused basilica, Khalil and his brother Qouraich, a rich landowner, barricaded themselves there in the company of their cousin Arbia that Qouraich delighted his family to dispose of a land which she inherited . Hurray is forced to seek refuge from the besieged. She is courted by Mannoubi, the groom, who offers him to flee with him; she is hated by Arbia who accuses him of bewitching his lover Quraish. Hooray awakens an old and impossible love affair in Khalil, who ends up admitting that Seif was murdered. Hurray refuses to believe him, reveals to be pregnant and decides to leave the basilica. She will train the small community in a whirlwind of violence from which she alone will escape.

With the opening of the story Richelieu pardons the Duke of Orleans and all his followers in the Languedoc revolt, save one. The exception is Adrien de Mauprat, because he seized a French town without his leader's orders. Richelieu advises him to lead his troops against the Spaniards and seek honorable death in battle. Julie, Richelieu's ward, loves de Mauprat, but notwithstanding her entreaties, the Cardinal is relentless; de Mauprat courts death on the battlefield. But now that he seeks death, it shuns him; instead of a soldier's grave, he wins glory. Julie has another admirer, Haradas, the King's favorite. Aware of de Mauprat's place in Julie's affections, he sets himself to bring discredit upon his rival. Later, Julie, at the King's request, attends court. She makes a deep impression upon the weak-minded, fickle monarch. A year after the departure of de Mauprat, Baradas and his followers conspire to murder Richelieu and seize the throne of France. At this critical time de Mauprat returns, famous in battle, sad of heart and loathing Richelieu. Thus he becomes a ready member of the conspirators. However, Richelieu hears of his arrival and of the conspiracy and has him arrested. In the meantime, Julie has returned from court and again appeals for de Mauprat's life. Thus, when de Mauprat is ushered into the Cardinal's presence, instead of hearing his death sentence, he is informed that he will marry Julie the following day. Hearing of this the King is violently angry: Julie is summoned to appear at court. Once there she is virtually held prisoner and her marriage is declared invalid. The false Barad is convinces de Mauprat that he has been tricked by Richelieu. De Mauprat swears vengeance and again joins the conspirators, all of whom sign a scroll addressed to the Spaniards offering to deliver France into their hands. From here the story develops with plot and counterplot. How de Mauprat discovers his tragic mistake in thinking the Cardinal has double-crossed him, how he manages, through a heroic effort, to save the old man's life, how de Mauprat falls into the hands of the King and is only saved by a master stroke of diplomacy on Richelieu's part, the death of the scheming Baradas and the final achievement of happiness for the young lovers, Julie and de Mauprat, makes up the essential points of the story.