Five Days, Five Nights (1961)

Original title

Пять дней – пять ночей

Directed by

Heinz Thiel, Lev Arnshtam

Genre

war film, historical film

Country

Soviet Union, German Democratic Republic, Germany

Runtime

1h 47m

Rating

7.0 of 10 from 3 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

In May 1945 a German communist returns with Soviet troops to his ruined home city of Dresden. Over five days he helps soldiers find art hidden in the rubble while meeting locals who slowly learn to work together.

tentativesomberhopefulslow-pacedearnestreflectivesubduedcooperativepost-war

What happens

Five Days, Five Nights (Russian: Пять дней, пять ночей, romanized: Pyat Dney, Pyat Nochei; German: Fünf Tage, Fünf Nächte) is a 1961 joint Soviet–East German film, directed by Lev Arnshtam and Heinz Thiel. On 8 May 1945, the day of Germany's surrender at the end of World War II, exiled communist Erich Braun returns along with the Red Army to his native city of Dresden, only three months after it was devastated in aerial bombardment. He aids a group of Soviet soldiers to recover the art of the Old Masters Picture Gallery from the ruins of the Zwinger Palace. During the next five days, while searching for the collection, he encounters several of the city's residents who have also returned from the war. Although they distrust the Soviets at first, they eventually assist them to recover the pictures. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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