| Director | Allan Eastman |
|---|---|
| Genre | war film |
In 1940, after the outbreak of the Second World War, life is hard in a small East European border town under Nazi occupation, as witnessed primarily by a Canadian-born twelve-year-old boy, Jan (Jason Hopley). At times life appears to go on as normal: Jan plays with his dog and has a good relationship with his father Stephan (Kenneth Welsh). But after all a war is on, and with an occupation come midnight raids and violence in the form of street shootings and exploding mortar shells.
Jan's father helps a Jewish family stay in hiding, but also houses an SS officer (Slobodan Dimitrijević) passing through the town. Jan, who has already lost his mother, fears his father may ultimately not survive the war. His stepmother Maria (Helen Shaver) treats him with disdain, and flirts with the German officer. Like his father, Jan defies the Nazis by helping the Jews escape, but is also affected by the sight of wounded German soldiers passing by his home.
Jan's character is tempered by these events like "the making of a fine sword"; the boy will become a man ready to "forge his future in a country without fear and hate."