In the Shadow of Death

A group of men fishing in the icy lake Peipus (Estonia) find themselves trapped when the ice breaks away carrying them with it. As the ice breaks into smaller and smaller pieces the behavior of the men gets more desperate and class-driven.

A group of fishermen find themselves in open sea when the ice they stand on breaks away from the shore. Permeated by bleak stoicism, the film pits its characters against certain death: food is running low as the ice is melting away. It is an existential drama about the psychological effects of facing the inevitable: in some, it inspires nobility and self-sacrifice, in others, selfishness and despair. It is also a commentary on the standards of manhood, casting some of Latvia’s most revered male actors at the time. The film’s homoerotic subtext has attracted renewed interest as modern researchers reappraise the oeuvre of Gunars Piesis from the queer perspective.
There was a trailer...but, it has since disappeared.