The film was accepted very badly by the people feeling nostalgia towards the communism in Bulgaria but honestly speaking, this is probably the best film ever made for that era.
The movie is a gathering image of the cynicism, hypocrisy and the deception in the late communist society of the country. Practically, it is based on real statistical data for the people killed trying to cross the border and escape from the communism to neighbouring countries - 105 casualties officially recorded in the period 1962 - 1990.
The movie reveals the personal tragedy in choosing to kill in order to get ''free'' from the ''system'' represented in the film by a military border check-point. The film makes a very good contrast between what is moral and free, on one side, and how failing in morals actually leads to murders in the hypocritical world of communism, on the other side.
The film contains some repulsive scenes, which are not intended for children, but as a whole it sounds pretty authentic and the film crew deserves only admirations.
Understandably, not easily acceptable by the general public, not a funny and leisure-time movie, but a true and honest picture of the decay of the late communist times.