This British-Yugoslavian co-production is surprisingly gentle and warm for a war film. Stars Tom Conti and Susan George (she was also executive producer), aided by Yugoslav thespian counterparts and the fine, atmospheric direction of Rajko Grlic, provide a film that resembles a Sixties Eastern European classic. Yugoslavia is occupied by the Nazis at the end of World War II. Tom Conti offers a subtle performance as a simpleton lifeguard at a remote lake where the conflict has virtually passed the residents by... until the day he saves a German officer from drowning. At the same time he provides a safe haven for George and her son, refugees from the Germans. At the suggestion of his friend, played by Rod Steiger, he offers to marry her as she has no papers. The platonic romance is a fascinating background to a screenplay that bristles with moral issues, as striking as the night photography of the lake's reflective surface.


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