Two Russian men man a remote weather station in winter. The older more experienced Sergei tells the younger Pavel (also known by the dimunitive Pascha) to not cause trouble as his (Sergei's) tour is over soon and he just wants to return home to his wife and child. Pascha in his eyes is a poseur, there to earn college credit but not really there to work hard. Pascha does appear to be less committed to the job, but one day Sergei decides to take the boat out to fish for trout, leaving Pascha behind to man the station alone. While Sergei is away, Pascha is given a traumatic message to relay to him, which he cannot bring himself to do once Sergei returns.
Pascha continues to avoid this responsibility, while keeping the news hidden from Sergei. It becomes a mano a mano as well as man versus nature story when Sergei does finally find out. They both do inhumane, and in Pascha's case, unspeakable things.
This really was a film of the two actors as the only other entity were voices on the station's communication radio, as well as the island itself. I think the younger actor did a pretty good job holding up his half of the film, showing a range of emotion although the film doesn't give us a real reason, other than immaturity or an irrational fear, why he doesn't relay the message. I gave this film the highest rating of five stars.
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