Celebrating the end of World War II and liberation of their city, a group of students is set on holding a cultural evening. They invite Ema, a reclusive piano teacher from the same building, to play for them. Ema declines, but starts reminscing back on her own life and the historical events that have seemingly overshadowed it.
Italian director Giuseppe DeSantis was the creative force behind this Yugoslavian "slice of life" drama. The title translates as The Year-Long Road and, accordingly, the plot concerns a voluntary joint effort to construct a highway. Naturally, this animosity wreaks havoc on the various Romeo-Juliet romances in the region.
In October 1941 the Nazis decide to crush a rebellion in Serbia by mass shootings of civilians. In the city of Kragujevac thousands of people, including entire high school classes, were rounded up and shot in one day. The movie follows the fate of one of such classes.
