"We Are from the Future 2" by Alexander Shevtsov, summary

"We Are from the Future 2" is a screenplay by Alexander Shevtsov, published in 2010 as the basis for the Russian military science fiction film of the same name. It is a direct continuation of the events of the first film: St. Petersburg search and rescue teams Borman and Cherep are once again transported to the years of the Great Patriotic War — this time to the summer of 1944, near the Ukrainian town of Brody. "We Are from the Future 2" was released on February 18, 2010. The leading roles were played by Igor Petrenko, Vladimir Yaglych, Alexey Barabash, and Dmitry Stupka.

Prologue: Pathfinder and a Letter from War

Cherep arrives at a St. Petersburg apartment in a building dating back to the early 20th century. He’s searching for the descendants of the soldier Demin to deliver a letter he found during excavations. The door is opened by Masha, a young woman practicing aikido and the great-granddaughter of the apartment’s owner. The letter is dated August 23, 1942. Masha explains that Demin went missing in July 1944 near Brody, and his family waited for him until the very end. A mutual attraction develops between Cherep and Masha.

Meanwhile, Borman learns from Cherep that the nurse Nina — the love he thought died in 1942 — had in fact survived: photographs of her from 1943–1944 were preserved in Demin’s apartment. Borman studies the photographs and letters at night and determines that Nina served in the 102nd Rifle Division. He changes the topic of his thesis from "the defense of Leningrad" to "the Brody pocket" and receives an invitation from the dean to a military-historical reenactment near Brody.

Reconstruction and a time lapse

Borman and Cherep travel to Ukraine. Chukha and Spirt refuse: the former cites an old injury, the latter a honeymoon. Masha, who has brought family photographs of the Demins, joins them. At the reenactors’ camp, Cherep and Masha get into a fight with nationalists — Taras Kanapenko (Taran) and Sergo Melnik (Seryi), who have harassed the girl.

During the game, Taran throws a grenade containing partially melted TNT into a bunker. It detonates next to an unexploded 120mm mortar shell found there. The explosion throws all four men — Borman, Cherep, Taran, and Sery — out of the bunker and onto a real battlefield from 1944. A flight of Il-2 attack aircraft flies above them.

Captured by the UPA

The boys flee into the forest, where they are captured by a UPA sabotage group. Taran and Seriy are initially overjoyed, thinking they’ve reached their own side. However, after interrogating them, the sotnik doesn’t believe their claims of traveling from the future. Taran and Seriy are given moonshine and tested for loyalty, going so far as to order the execution of captured Ukrainians and "Muscovites." When they hesitate, the sotnik announces that everyone will be shot in the morning.

Borman organizes an escape: with the help of his peasant grandfather, he bends the window bars by wrapping a belt around the bars. That night, all the captives — Borman, Cherep, Taran, Seryy, Natasha, the peasant woman, and the grandfather and grandmother — escape through the window and escape into the forest.

SMERSH and the Road to the Front

At dawn, the group is detained by an NKVD detachment. Borman and Cherep are brought before a young SMERSH investigator, Misyuryaev. Borman skillfully passes them off as the driver and Captain Vlasov of the 102nd Rifle Corps, supposedly transporting the chief of staff who was ambushed by Bandera’s men. This theory almost works, but an American five-dollar bill is found in Cherep’s pocket. Major Zhorin, a friend from their first trip, appears and orders both men executed.

Misyuryaev leads the boys out to be shot, but hesitates. He is killed by UPA fighters who jump out of the bushes. Borman and Cherep flee. They then make their way to the bathhouse where Zhorin is bathing, taking his major’s uniform, SMERSH documents, weapons, and jeep. Using his SMERSH ID, they free Taran and Seryi from the freight car, where their German cellmates had beaten them for making Nazi salutes.

Nina’s child

Borman finds Nina — she’s alive, working as a nurse, and pregnant with Demin’s child. On the way, she goes into labor. A boy is born, whom Borman names Demin. The mother dies. Borman, unable to part with the child, reluctantly hands him over to a nurse at a retreating military hospital. The departing convoy of carts carrying the wounded is the very vision Taran saw the night before the reenactment: the baby on the cart recognizes him and smiles.

The last battle and return

To return home, all four must reach the bunker — the transition point. They fight their way to it, neutralizing two German motorcyclists and battling SS troops manned by soldiers from the Galicia Division. Taran, realizing the hopelessness of the situation, emerges from the bunker, feigning surrender, and blows himself up with a grenade next to a German flamethrower. The explosion destroys the enemy’s equipment. The remaining three are thrown back to the day of the reenactment by the blast wave.

Upon returning, Bormann and Cherep see members of the pseudo-SS Galicia Division trampling the Soviet flag. They rush into battle alongside Gray, dispersing the neo-Nazis.

Epilogue

At the Military Glory Memorial, Seryi kneels before the slab of a mass grave: where he once scratched his nickname "Taran," his full name — Taras Kanapenko — is now inscribed. Borman notices Nina Polyakova’s name on the list.

In Kyiv, Borman searches for an orphanage and finds the address of the family who adopted Nina and Demin’s son. The director of the institution turns out to be the same young nurse from the hospital cart. Borman arrives at the address, and a girl who looks like Nina opens the door.