At Home among Strangers is a 1974 film starring Anatoly Solonitsyn and directed by Nikita Mikhalkov. Its Russian language title is Svoy sredi chuzhikh, chuzhoy sredi svoikh/Свой среди чужих, чужой среди своих. Some hail it as Mikhalkov's only masterpiece.

Plot

The setting is post-Russian Civil War, during the reconstruction of the young Soviet republic. During the war, Shilov, Sarichev, Kungorov, Zabelin and Lipyagin had become great friends.

There are two main plots in the film, the first involving the the theft of gold by bandits just after the Russian civil war. Though the cannons are now silent, the enemy continues to harass the Soviets. The regional comitee sends a precious shipment of gold by train to Moscow, and a group of Cheka soldiers led by Shilov are entrusted with the responsibility of guarding it. The gold is needed to buy bread from overseas to feed the starving population. When the train is attacked by bandits, the guards are killed and the gold stolen. Shilov manages to escape but is suspected of treason, which is where the second plot comes in. Shilov must infiltrate the enemy camp to find the gold, hence the title. The second plot involves the Shilov's desire to clear his name of murder, and he must find out who killed his friend. During his efforts, Shilov uncovers a web of deceit and treachery, which allowed the robbery to succeed. The story of a hero battling against corruption and greed echoes the cattle baron or railroad Westerns.

The film also has male cameraderie as a subplot, as the initial joy of demobbed Red Army soldiers returning from the Revolution is sorely tested. It has strong parallels in some ways with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in its look, period setting, and strong action sequences, which are still famous in Russia, involving literal cliffhangers, white water rafting, chases on horseback, holding up trains etc.

English language titles

Its English title has numerous variants, and this in part has hindered success in English speaking countries, along with particularly bad dubbing when it was first released in them. Variants range from a full length translation of the Russian title - At home amongst strangers, a stranger amongst friends to At home among the Strangers