Plot

On the island Texel, Marie dreams about mountains; she collects postcards of mountains all over the world. She would love to do something else with her life, but as the only girls in a big poor family in wartime, Marie has no choice: she must marry Paul. The extreme religious and narrow minded population at the island expects her to behave. The arrival of a group of Georgian soldiers brings color, life en love in Marie's life at the colorless Nordsea island. With their music and film, but especially with their inventive and unusual surviving strategies and their radically different vision on life, this isolated group foreigners help Marie to find herself. For the first time in her life, Marie falls in love. Unfortunately, her love for soldier Goga from Kazbek and the friendship with the other soldiers, is not accepted by her family and the other people on the island. Exhorted by the female hero in the Soviet musical 'The Aviatrix of Kazbek', the only film the Georgians carry with them and show as much as possible, Marie takes destiny in her own hands. When the Georgians eventually come in insurrection against the Germans, Marie chooses their side. She finds a unsuspected inner strength during the atrocious aftermath of this resistance, innumerable Georgians get killed, and Goga becomes a prisoner of war.—Ineke Smits

Marie, is a girl who has a vivid imagination. On the flat island of Texel, she dreams about mountains and even collects pictures of them. She would rather like to do something with her life instead of marrying Paul, the beachcomber's son. But, being the only girl in a big and poor family during war time, she doesn't seem to have much of a choice. The relationships and positions are tightened even more by the reality of war. Marie tries to outlive this reality by dreaming. The sudden arrival of a regiment of Georgians stationed on the island cause a change. As soon as the Georgians, Goga and Irakli, are accommodated in the family, color, life and love enters Marie's life. With Goga, Marie falls in love for the first time. On the island, the encounter of cultures leads to clashes and reconciliation, to misunderstandings and fraternization; to tragic, but also comic situations. When the Georgians revolt against the Germans, Marie takes the Georgians' side.—International Film Festival Rotterdam