Written by playwright Lillian Hellman, The North Star (1943) depicts a fictional farming village of North Star, Ukraine, in June 1941. Directed by Lewis Milestone, The North Star was one of three pro-Soviet propaganda films released during the height of World War II. Propaganda films during this time disseminated messages of patriotism and support of the war effort, yet also conveyed other messages that Americans had not yet fully embraced. Without question, most 1940s Americans needed considerable persuasion when it came to supporting the Soviet Union. Encouraged by the Office of War Information, Hollywood aided in this rather arduous task through the production of Michael Curtiz's Mission to Moscow (1943), Lewis Milestone's The North Star (1943), and Gregory Ratoff's Song of Russia (1944). While each film unabashedly promotes the Soviet Union, The North Star stands out due to its heavy reliance on Copland's musical score to successfully bring its messages to life.

Copland, in tandem with Milestone and Hellman, worked in three stages throughout The North Star to break down barriers between the United States and the Soviet Union, creating for the viewer a connection to, sympathy for, and feeling of unification with the North Star villagers. Moving chronologically through the film, he first employs “Coplandized” versions of Russian folk tunes, followed by slow, sparse, soloistic scoring, and concluding with forceful, determined, militaristic cues as American viewer and North Star villager join together to fight for the same goal: to defeat the Nazis. As demonstrated throughout this chapter, by adopting these markedly different musical styles, Copland ultimately steers the viewer's feelings and attitudes toward America's relationship with the Soviet Union.

The North Star's plot is quite simple. Reaching the end of the school year, five friends from North Star embark on a two-week walking trip to Kiev. Their plans are suddenly canceled, however, due to a German airstrike on their town; it is the beginning of the Nazi occupation. After the Germans take over the town, Nazi doctor Otto Von Harden (Erich Von Stroheim) starts gathering the town's children for blood transfusions to help injured German soldiers, which sparks an uprising among the villagers.