A fiercely cinematic nightmare of fire, ice, rain, wind and loneliness deep in the Siberian woods. That’s where a small group of young Russian scientists and explorers believe that a wealth of natural diamonds can be found. All they have to do is trudge several miles, dig a lot of holes, sleep on the ground, grow their beards out (the three men, at least) and get frustrated a lot. Then the forest fire happens and shit gets real crazy. This is one of the great man-vs.-nature survival films, lean and mean with enough ambiguity and subtext to keep the conversation going long afterward (I have a definite suspicion about the cause of the fire, though the film leaves the question unanswered). Director Mikhail Kalatozov stays close to the ground, right with the human drama, deep in the misery, deep in the visual beauty of overcast skies and stark landscapes. You can feel these characters breathe. At the very least, this startles because the forest fire looks like the most dangerous movie set in film history. As far as I can tell, there’s not one special effect, double-exposure, camera trick or piece of editing sleight-of-hand. For about thirteen minutes, the cast here is surrounded by real fire and real smoke. Their nervousness is probably real, too.