THE story begins at the outbreak of World War II in Transcaspian. Before the war, German settlers from Russia had been living with the Turkomen natives in peaceful co-existence. Children of different backgrounds played together in the fields. Yet, the harmony and unity conjured up by the opening shots is quickly destroyed by the return to the village where the adult German population, branded as fascist, is rounded-up and carted off to Siberia.

The children are taken to an orphanage, except Georg, a German boy, who manages to elude the men in uniform. Now a fugitive in his own village he is confronted with both support and cruelty from former friends. He tries to make sense of a world which is growing increasingly hostile towards him and labels him a deserter, a word whose meaning he doesn't understand. He strongly believes that the baby angel, who is traditionally due at Easter to surprise people with treats, will take care of him and save him.

While "Baby Angel" presents us with powerful images of the cruelty of ethnic cleansing and the tragedy of war orphans, it also offers a glimmer of hope in the naivety and beliefs of the children. However adverse their surrounding, they appear full of energy and sometimes laughter, always running, holding hands, and constantly struggling against the utter meaninglessness of an adult world. It is the direct tone of the film and the children's perspective which gives this universal theme a very specific quality.