However, her performance is unaffected by this and is superfluous as a professional sniper she depicts (matching the age to a sports champion description), and a combat veteran contrasted with other female roles in the film that all have relationships with officers, something she cannot afford.

Another noted performance is that of Anatoly Kot whose depiction of a faithful security SMERSH operatchik is flawless, as is his portrayal of a mental 'release' that ends in his suicide.

Production sought to portray front-line life of combat troops in the Red Army as authentically as possible, and mostly succeeds.

There is a further implausibility of a former convicted criminal being accepted into a reconnaissance squad, and his love pursuit of a sniper who is his ranking senior, and also a clearly older woman.

Snipers usually worked in pairs, but certainly a selection of a complete novice for a partner on missions would have been suicidal for Olga, as it nearly proved to be for Kolya.