ZIFT

Bulgaria in the 1960s. Moth is released on parole from prison, where he has served many years of a sentence for murder. We see his first day and night as a free man, with flashbacks relating anecdotes from his time in jail as well as the circumstances that led up to his arrest and imprisonment. As a young man, he falls in love with the beautiful Ada. He succumbs to temptation and teams up with the murky Slug to rob a jeweller’s shop known to contain a valuable black diamond. After the hold-up goes awry and the jeweller is killed, Moth finds himself arrested and tried as the sole perpetrator. The real murderer, his accomplice Slug, has vanished without trace. Now an influential member of the Party, Slug is waiting to grill Moth after his release: Where did he hide the black diamond they stole? Moth firmly denies all knowledge of the jewel’s whereabouts, and finally flees. Still groggy from the spiked drink he was given by his interrogator, he wanders through nighttime Sofia, a place that bears little resemblance to the city of his youth. The priest who christened Moth as a baby helps him to track down Ada, the love of his life. Although she is now on intimate terms with Slug, Moth confides to her that he actually does know where the diamond is hidden. By the time he realizes that Ada is playing him false, it is already too late.