Synopsis
North Africa, II. WW, Fall 1941. Young soldier, eighteen years old, signs up as a volunteer in the Czechoslovak army. His naive ideas about heroism are rawly confronted with the hell of the African desert, complicated relationships in his unit and the ubiquitous threat of death. All this takes its cruel toll in the shape of his gradual loss of self respect and courage.
He is full of self-confidence and patriotic ideals, yet at the same time is deeply frustrated by his father, whom he views as a collaborator. His closest companion is a Jewish youth, in many ways more mature and thoughtful. Gradually, the friendship between the two deepens. Their opposite, in turn, is Corporal, a former member of the French Foreign Legion: the sort of evil and twisted personality for whom warfare is above all a profession. And a profession that he knows well and greatly enjoys. Corporal, moreover, is a strong anti-Semite and is thus despised by both of the young soldiers under him. The psychological drama between these three characters, the differing attitudes and personalities of each of them, are, during the course of the story and most clearly in its dramatic climax, brought into confrontation with a clear and harsh test of the moral character of all.
There is only a very thin line between heroism and cowardice. Courage is the will power, which no man has enough to spare. If used, it is soon exhausted. Courage is the capital, which we spend gradually. The deepest fear rises when a man is floundered by a current, all alone, having nothing to hold on and not being able to cope. Thus, the last order may be the order to pay out the account drawing to zero. This is the main topic and the artistic motto of this wartime psychological drama.