| Director | Paul Feig |
|---|---|
| Genre | drama film, film based on literature |
| Runtime | 90 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $7 million |
| Box office | $292,376 |
Note: The story is mostly fictional with few true historical events. While forced labor camps existed in communist Bulgaria during the Cold War, David's story is entirely fictional.
In 1951, a 12 year old boy named David, who is most likely Jewish and the child of parents who were political prisoners, escapes from a forced labor camp in the communist People's Republic of Bulgaria where he lived for most of his time. He was alone in the camp, after his mother was taken away from him, until he befriended a prisoner in the camp named Johannes. Johannes, his friend and mentor in the camp, who is most likely a German Nazi prisoner of war himself, prepares David to escape from the labor camp and tells David to go on an important mission and leave Bulgaria and travel all the way to Denmark to deliver a letter for an unknown person, but is murdered by a guard in the labor camp, forcing David to escape on his own. David is helped by a surprisingly kind and caring guard of the labor camp, whom he tells of his mission to go to Denmark. The guard then gives him a compass and tells him he must cross the border and enter Greece and then go southwest to Thessaloniki, board a ship to arrive in Italy, and ultimately go north from there to Denmark. When night comes, David escapes from the labor camp through a hole in the barbed wire fence and then sets out on his extremely dangerous journey to Denmark, initially continuing to falsely believe he is on that important mission to deliver the letter.
Gradually he learns that some people can be trusted, and to open up and experience his own feelings. Finally, with the help of a woman named Sophia who lives in Switzerland, David is reunited with his mother in Denmark, and there he learns the true "mission" was to reunite him with his mother.