Set on a small village on the Russo-German border, the war poisons the village community; close friendships are destroyed by vindictive nationalism, while a sweet romance between a Russian girl (Yelena Kuzmina, By the Bluest of Seas) and a German POW is greeted with suspicion and disapproval. On the front, soldiers face the absurdity of trench warfare, and at home returning veterans are unable to return to normal life; while intimations of the Russian Revolution makes themselves felt within the village. Made in 1933, Outskirts is one of the most ambitious films from the early sound period, ahead of its time with its camera movements and its use of sound, it is regarded as one of the greatest films of Russian cinema.