About the film
Alexei Astakhov is a test pilot and a Hero of the Soviet Union. During the war his plane is shot down and he is taken prisoner. After the war, instead of a welcome, he faces suspicion: he is thrown out of the party, loses his job and his medal.
Only Sasha, the woman who loves him, keeps faith. Astakhov starts to drink and almost gives up, until the political thaw after Stalin's death offers a chance to fly again.
One of the first Soviet films to speak openly about the treatment of former prisoners of war, Clear Skies was a powerful statement of the Khrushchev thaw.
Did you know?
- It shared the Grand Prix of the 1961 Moscow festival with Kaneto Shindo's The Naked Island.
- Director Grigori Chukhrai also made Ballad of a Soldier.
