Feature film
In the 1920-30s, 70% of the indigenous population died from the Great Famine created by the Bolsheviks in Kazakhstan. Overcoming the dreadful fear of death and despair, an eagle hunter's (“berkutchi”) family is trying to stay alive and face a moral choice, to die as human beings or to survive at any cost, transgressing the human decency.
Winter. A kazakh village in the highlands. This village is experiencing the hardships of the Great Famine.
Turar, an experienced eagle hunter or “berkurchi” provides for his family and helps the whole village, although he lives far away from the village, in his winter quarters, far from everyone. He wants to save his family from hunger and avoids strangers. But one day Turar finds his friend Maden dying in the cold in the mountains. Turar saves him from death and this leads to fatal consequences.
The family is on the brink of survival. Turar's wife Nuria is trying to save her children with all her might. But finding herself in unbearable circumstances, alone without the help of her husband, she realizes that she is ready for anything, even the most horrible things, so that her children could survive.
The family faces difficult trials and the unknown awaits them ahead ...
It was a fierce winter ...
This story is an amazing interweaving of destinies, life on the verge of the impossible, when all human feelings are naked, where there is no place for hypocrisy and the rules of decency. There are only naked instincts and the struggle for life. Where the truth of life is harsh, but it reveals people the whole truth about themselves. These are realistic pictures of life about people who faced severe trials and each solves this situation in his own way.
