Difficult Lads 1966

Directed by Mikhail Litvyakov

A short but highly expressive chronicle of life in a camp for troubled adolescents. Criminal songs, collectivism, faith in corrective labour and lofty ideals, theft and chastity. Difficult Lads captures the atmosphere of the era, the mood and the social contrasts of Leningrad in the 1960s Thaw. At the same time, it tries to understand why the radiant energy of youth sometimes leads to destructive ends.