Wounded Game

The film opens with an epigraph quoting Alexander Tvardovsky: 'Children and war—there is no more horrifying convergence of opposites in the world.' This line frames the narrative and signals that the story will probe the lasting wounds of war on young lives. It sets a somber, reflective tone that carries through Alexey's memories.

Writer Alexey Bartenev travels back to the city where he spent his early years, hoping to piece together his fractured past. He revisits old streets, archives, and memories that feel unfamiliar yet intimate. The journey marks a shift from present concerns into a pilgrimage through memory.

The backstory reveals Alexey’s origins: his father died on the front, and his mother took her own life when he was an infant. These losses left him as an orphan and shaped his wary, guarded outlook. The scene anchors the narrative in the traumas that define his quest.

Alexey uses archival records to uncover what happened to his two brothers and sister. Natasha died in 1947, Sergey Pogartsev became a habitual criminal, and Denis Kuskov was adopted by a high‑ranking Party official and raised in relative comfort. The discoveries begin to map a family divided by war and circumstance.

Denis Kuskov grows up under the care of a high‑ranking Party official and experiences a comparatively privileged childhood. His path contrasts sharply with that of his siblings and underscores how postwar systems could shelter some while neglecting others. The revelation adds moral ambiguity to the family history.

Natasha had once visited Denis, but he greeted her with cold reserve and offered no warmth or details. The moment hints at unspoken tensions within the family tied to loyalty, fear, and the scars of the war era. It remains a fragment of memory that will later surface in Alexey’s quest.

Years later, as an adult, Denis admits that he remembered everything and regrets his earlier behavior toward Natasha. The acknowledgment adds nuance to the siblings’ estrangement and suggests remorse that could alter Alexey’s understanding of his past. The confession occurs long after the events Natasha witnessed.

The film recalls Alexey’s rough childhood on the Odessa streets, where he pretends to be mute and teams up with Natasha and other street children. They barter a stolen gramophone for a piece of bread, showing how hunger can push children into acts of survival. The sequence paints a vivid portrait of postwar deprivation.

In another desperate plan, the children try to steal food from an apartment by distracting a woman with a chicken. Natasha acts as the distraction while Alexey slips in via the balcony. A neighbor policeman catches him and turns him over to a state shelter for orphans.

Determined to stay together, Natasha volunteers to join her brother in the orphanage. Her decision underscores their bond and the lengths they go to survive together. The gesture seals their shared fate within the harsh postwar system.

The film intermittently drifts through Alexey’s shattered memories of a difficult postwar childhood. These recollections illuminate the emotional scars left by scarcity, fear, and parental loss. They also reveal how memory can be a fragile guide to truth.

As the archival search progresses, Alexey learns Sergey Pogartsev’s continued criminal life and Denis Kuskov’s more comfortable upbringing. The revelations close the loop on the family’s fates and contrast two paths carved by circumstance. The truth seems to multiply the complexity of loyalty and belonging.

The film concludes with a voiceover reading excerpts from Gennady Shpalikov’s poem By Misfortune or by Happiness. The lines carry the weight of memory and the lasting scars of war. The poem frames Alexey’s story as a meditation on loss, resilience, and the costs of survival.