The title reflects the population of the Soviet Union on the 50th anniversary of the revolution. Yet, this is not a typical jubilee film. Resonating with Dziga Vertov's, A Sixth Part of the World (1926), 235 000 000 is made without any spoken commentary — greater emphasis is put on musical themes and visual imagery. Images of a variety of private celebrations of life are intertwined with official state events in the Soviet Union. Yet the human scale, captured by four production units traveling across the Soviet Union under the design of scriptwriter Hercs Franks and director Uldis Brauns, prevails and creates an emotional, visual poem of collective existence.