Így jöttem (1965)

Toward the end of the Second World War, the Red Army moves into an area that had until recently been held by the Wehrmacht. Jóska, a 17-year-old Hungarian high school student who has been conscripted, sets out for his home. He is spotted by a group of Soviet soldiers combing the area and taken to a larger gathering of prisoners of war. The commander realizes that Jóska is Hungarian, has no use for the student, and lets him go. In a village abandoned by the Germans, Jóska finds a Wehrmacht uniform jacket, puts it on, and lies down to sleep. When he is woken, he is staring down the barrels of a Soviet squad’s rifles. A prisoner of war once again, Jóska is assigned to an outpost. Stationed there is Kolja, a Red Army soldier about his age, who guards a herd of cows that must be milked regularly. Every day, a jeep drives by, picks up the milk-filled cans, and brings the two young men a ration of food. Soon Jóska tries to escape, but at the last moment Kolja stops him from running into a minefield. Jóska initially gives up his escape plans. While wandering aimlessly near the outpost, he comes across a group of former Hungarian prisoners who have come from a German camp. Because of his uniform, they take him for an SS man and threaten him until Kolja rescues him from the situation. Although the Hungarian and the Russian cannot understand each other’s language, Jóska and Kolja gradually become friends. When a few women go bathing in a nearby body of water, the two chase after the startled, naked women until they lose their trail. Their high spirits are dampened by Kolja’s internal stomach injury, which causes him increasing pain and leaves him bedridden. Jóska tries in vain to alert the passing military personnel to Kolja’s condition. He does manage to lead a doctor from a train carrying refugees to the outpost, but by the time they arrive, Kolja has already died. Wearing Kolja’s Soviet uniform, Jóska leaves the outpost and follows a railway line to the nearest station, where he boards a train heading toward home. But the former camp prisoners are on the same train; they recognize him, throw him off before it departs, and beat him at the station. After the train leaves without him, he sets off through the countryside again.