The Pathfinder is a metaphor for the pursuit of an ideal, which eventually dies. The poisonous sun is a metaphor for the victory of the mighty, and it burns the people as well as the users. The dispute between the colonel and the secret police is essentially a conflict between the Lenin era and the Stalin era. The colonel is a hero whose inner ideal died. He fought for the Soviet Union so that the people in the future can live a happy life in peace and contentment. He angrily rebuked cowardly teachers and alcoholics , but after he was promoted, he used his privilege to oppress the people and took his atrocities for granted. The secret police is the victim of the conflict between two generations. Like his teacher, he never had an interesting and rich life. He went to war when he was young, and was sent abroad by the colonel when he was supposed to start a family. Wasted, the career he was engaged in was not the one he loved, so his life was meaningless after revenge. Before he died, the secret police heard the whistle of a train stuffed with ducks, a poor and ignorant people like livestock, and the trains were the efficient and powerful but emotionless Soviet regime.
The film's images are stable and powerful, and the text is rich in meaning. It is a masterpiece in Russian cinema, but the disadvantage is that many scenes are too repetitive and redundant, and the ending is just right with the car driving into the colossus + the suicide of the police.
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