A historical revolutionary film from the Soviet era, telling the story of the life and death of Sergei Lazo, a hero of the Russian Civil War. According to legend, after being captured, Lazo refused to save his life at the cost of betraying his comrades and was burned alive in a locomotive’s firebox. The leading role in this Moldovan film was impressively performed by Lithuanian actor Regimantas Adomaitis, confirming the favorable reputation that the European-oriented Lithuanian school of acting had already established at the time. Its representatives surpassed many of the most prominent Russian film actors in popularity. Indeed, a look through the archives of the Soviet cinematic heritage reveals the remarkable number of roles played by Lithuanian actors in film studios across the various Soviet republics of the time. Regimantas Adomaitis, Juozas Budraitis, Donatas Banionis, Algimantas Masiulis, Vytautas Tomkus, Eugenija Pleškytė and, somewhat later, Liubomiras Laucevičius, Kostas Smoriginas, Vaiva Mainelytė, Nijolė Oželytė and Gražina Baikštytė were among the stars of the era, earning widespread audience affection and recognition and becoming, as was commonly said at the time, true People’s Artists.
