The Beauty

A harsh winter in 1941. Senior Sergeant Nikolay Svetlov, barely recovered from a severe concussion, is determined to return to the front, but instead of seeing combat he receives an unexpected order—to guard… a zoo. In a besieged, starving city, the zoo’s staff are doing the almost impossible day after day: saving the animals and trying to obtain food for them.

Blockaded Leningrad, the merciless winter months of 1941. Nikolay Svetlov leaves the hospital with one thought—to get back into the ranks—yet, by order of the commandant, he is assigned to protect an object of special importance: the zoo. Its workers, risking their lives, keep the pets alive with the last of their strength, trying to feed them in conditions of hunger. At first Nikolay doesn’t understand the purpose of such a service and refuses the commandant’s decision, but gradually he realizes how significant this duty is. Caring for the hippopotamus Krasavitsa and other zoo inhabitants becomes for him a cause that gives meaning to every day.