Life Flows Slowly by... (1988)

A partisan unit is fighting a battle with the gendarmes. Velko stays behind to cover the group's withdrawal. He has a small pistol with a mother-of-pearl grip. At the cost of his life, Velko helps his comrades escape to safety. Among the survivors are the commander Zhelyo, his wife, his son Pavel... Ten years later, Pavel is back from the Moscow University completing his studies. He finds his parents divorced. Zhelyo has given up the prospecting expeditions for the sake of comfortable managerial job. The former commander estranges from his comrades and spends his time, drinking with the sculptor Markov and Lyudmila, the daughter of dispossessed industrialist. In the capacity as Member of Parliament, Zhelyo has decided that a monument to Velko should be raised on the site of his heroic death, instead of having the iron e jobs ore deposits in the area developed and thus provide jobs for the locals. When Petko criticizes him for this, Zhelyo demands his expulsion from the Communist Party. Pavel gets an appointment at the district Party committee and takes up the case of Petko. Although crippled because of a wound in the resistance, Petko now sells buns. He refuses to apply for a special partisan's pension. Pavel goes to Markov's studio. He finds his father Zhelyo, drunk, brandishing the pistol with the mother-of-pearl grip. He suddenly recognizes the weapon of Velko and realizes that Markov is former gendarme. Zhelyo has attempted to commit suicide. In the hospital, he is together with Petko. The two manage to rebuild their lost mutual confidence. The ex-members of the partisan unit are gathered at the place where Velko fell. Zhelyo joins them in silence. Instead of a monument to the hero, the mountains resounds with the thunder of machines, which will extract the iron ore from its bowels to give people a better life.