Directors from China, the Soviet Union, Italy, Brazil, and France tell a story from the lives of five women – a collaborative effort by filmmakers who had never seen each other before. Well-known actors and writers contributed to an episode film that was regarded as semi-documentary by audiences and critics and whose documentary power is captivating even today. The film stands out for its sociocritical attitude and realistic aesthetics. It is intensely atmospheric, incorporated short story techniques into filmmaking, combined a feature film plot with documentary film methods, maintained national styles in subject and execution, replaced dubbed dialogues by narrative comments, nationality by internationality, collectivity by individuality – astounding, simple and convincing. A new Ivens. He developed the idea and concept; he oversaw the integration of the episodes into a whole that was both innovative and groundbreaking. “I was ahead most of the time. And I want to stay there.”

Günter Jordan