Posledniy poezd (2003)

On a frosty winter day, the portly army doctor Paul Fischbach arrives by train behind the German lines. At the station, a driver meets him and takes him to his destination—a hospital that, as it turns out, is in the process of being evacuated because of the retreat. Only a few people remain at the hospital, waiting to be taken away, but no one comes. After a confrontation with a young doctor, Fischbach sets off across a snow-covered field, trying to find his way. He meets another German, a postman who has also become separated from his unit. Together they reach a forest, where they come under fire and the postman suffers a concussion. When he regains consciousness, they continue on. They come to an abandoned cabin in the woods, where a group of Soviet civilians—a man and several female performers, one of them seriously ill—are staying. The group’s leader tries to shoot the Germans with a pistol, but his persistent coughing stops him, and they move on. The postman lies down to rest, while Fischbach continues and witnesses partisans shoot up a retreating German detachment. A large partisan group then passes by, including women and children. The postman catches up and tries to find any German survivors, but there are none. They return to the cabin, which has since been burned down, and everyone who had been inside has been killed. The postman pulls a dying woman from beneath the rubble. Fischbach sits beside her on a suitcase and takes her hand. The postman covers her with his greatcoat, finds an umbrella and puts it in the doctor’s hands, then walks away. Soon afterward, he drops dead. The woman dies in agony. Drowsy, Fischbach sits beside her, holding the umbrella. The closing titles state that Fischbach went missing and his body was never found. He had no family, and in time all memory of him faded away.