maria m The 1959 Soviet film entitled "Ballad of a Soldier," directed by Grigori Chukhrai is set during World War ll. The film revolves around a young enthusiastic 19 year old soldier named Alyosha who receives a medal for his heroic act in the front when he single handedly destroys two German tanks. Instead of this he appeals to be granted leave for a few days to visit his mother. Throughout his journey home he comes to fully realize the turmoil and affect of war on humans. One of the many themes this film portrays is "heroism." At the beginning we immediately realize that Alyosha isn't particularly this traditional amazing hero as we see him fleeing from the German tanks, but his instincts to survive has him become an accidental hero. This isn't writing off his title of a hero in any way. The presentation of a heroic act between the scene of him staying back to deliver the message that a group of tanks were heading their way, to the scene of him saving countless people from the train wreckage that happens later in the film is comparatively different in the portrayal of a hero. The treatment in soldiers from the beginning of the filming towards the end is significantly different as at the beginning many citizens were willing to help Alyosha get home, but near the end it was difficult to have someone take him merely 5 miles to see his mother. He was treated as a "good for nothing" or obstacle especially in the scene where he had saved several people from the train wreck. Chukhrai usage of angles is rather unique, for example the deep focus shot that is slowly turned upside down when Alyosha is running away from the German tanks gives a sense of disorientation and loss that the battlefield is composed up. Chukhrai especially like to elongate characters and objects perhaps to highlight the importance these elements have on the film. Although the film does respect authority figures and idealizes soviet workers it does devote a lot of its attention on the humanistic picture that is powerful as it is devastating. For example the scene were Alyosha meets a veteran who lost his leg and is hesitant to return to his wife. It was through Alyoshas constant optimistic view on the situation that made this reunion possible.

duska_012 Ballad of a Soldier is about Aloysha, a young private in the Soviet army that is granted some time to go visit with his mother. The movie follows the people that he meets on his journey home, even falling in love on the way. The whole time you are rooting for Aloysha to make it in time to see his mother before his time runs out—making you emotional invested in his journey and his new relationship with the girl he meets along the way. Additionally, the movie depicts the hardships of war without actually showing any attacks. And instead of taking a soldier and trying to portray him as a hero, Aloysha is portrayed as a human being with flaws and fears. Because of this, I found this movie very real and enjoyable. The main character was lovable and I found myself invested in his story.

ironhorse_iv Some Americans at the time, must have thought, that the godless Soviets were just cold-blooded killers without any sense of a soul. This 1959 war film movie directed by Grigori Chukhrai, proves them, wrong, big time with its gripping story about love! Ballad of a Soldier is not primarily just a war film. It recounts, within the context of the turmoil of war, various kinds of love: the romantic love of a young couple, the committed love of a married couple, and a mother's love of her child, as a Red Army soldier named Pvt. Alyosha Skvortsov (Volodya Ivashov) tries to make it home during a leave, after being rewarded for taking out two German tanks. On the way, he meets several people and help them deal with the stress of war time life. But with each random act of kindness, spells less time for him to reach his love ones before he has to go back to his life as a soldier on the war front. This Soviet love road movie came out, and really surprised the world! It even surprising got an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay in the US, where most people show them as just the enemy. The film paint a very positive light of the red army without going over patriotic. It didn't felt like a propaganda film. It shows, a realistic tone to the war with the amount of loses that Russia was taken. The film show a subversive or critical tone to lose. Things like this, would be banned or censored under Stalinism. It illuminates how war can ravish both an individual and a country. Coming off, from the death of totalitarian Joseph Stalin, a few years earlier in 1953. Soviet movies makers can now have a little bit freedom, as the regime became more, reformed. It did help that the Soviet leader, at the time, Nikita Khrushchev was a fan of the director, so Chukrai was given more flexibility than normal. It really shows here with how the soldiers were portray. The movie is about the incredible ability of humans to adapt to the most extreme conditions on survival instinct, love and courage. The film is beautiful well-shot. Just watching it, you can see the how much work was put into this film from the wide shots of farmland to the harsh reality of the battlefield. Beautiful cinematography for a black & white film. Another great thing about the movie is the music by Mikhail Ziv. You be clutching at your heart-strings for it. Another thing, great about the movie is the pacing. For a movie that's 88 minutes long. They really put a lot of things into it that are pretty well-delivery stories. The movie didn't need a lot of dialogue, as the movie show more than it told. The movie had such a convincing and humane performance from both Vladimir Ivashov and Zhanna Prokhorenko, as his love-interest Shura. They make a beautiful couple. They had amazing chemistry. Zhanna was stunning, she had the face of an angel. Her character had a lot of depth. Even supporting actors help show the stress, love has to go through like the ex-soldier, Vasya (Evgeniy Urbanskiy) sub-plot of being a burden to his wife due to him, losing a leg. Another great scene is when Alyosha visit a fellow soldier's wife (Valentina Markova), only to find out that she was cheating on him. Really heart-breaking. The whole film is very touching. The movie faults could be that it's pretty predictable and somewhat depressing. After all, the movie opening really set the tone of the film, by stating out what happen to Alyosha during the war. I didn't felt the narrative prologue was needed in the beginning, since they repeat it in the end, as well. It really makes you wonder, why am I'm watching this film, if something really bad is going to happen him in the end. It kinda guilt-trip you into an emotional trap. The warmth is missing in the overdubbed voices, in the dubbed version of the film. If you find a copy, watch the movie in Russian, with English sub-titles. One version worth checking out is the Criterion one. It remove instances of dirt, debris and scratches. The result of Criterion's efforts is a presentation that's pretty extraordinary, considering this is pretty old film. The image looks slightly better than the others DVDs, out there. Overall: This movie left a deep impression to me. Marvelously acted, powerful and often thought-providing film is worth the watch.

kril10 Chukhrai's Ballad of a Soldier is a great example of several important values of Soviet film of the "Thaw" era. Films of this time are known for a movement away from Stalinist ideological monumentalism and towards individual self-expression via the protagonist's struggle (and often failure) to find coherence. A common theme of Thaw films, especially those about World War II like the Ballad or Kalatozov's The Cranes are Flying was the lack of communication between soldiers leaving for the front and the people who they loved who stayed behind. So important was this theme that in these films, the actual war, in the sense of guns and shells, took backstage. Very few combat scenes were shot—the fighting was always implicit, but not central, in the overall plot. Ballad of a Soldier follows many of these ideas. For example, the only real combat scene in the entire film is at the very beginning, when Alyosha takes out two German tanks. For the rest of the film, everybody he meets on his journey to visit his mother inquires about the war, or complains about it, or is among other evidence of war, like destroyed buildings and news flashes of events on the front. In addition, despite bringing peace to certain individuals, and revealing the evil in the actions of others during his journey, Alyosha never truly finds this peace himself. Despite bringing couples back together or chastising an unfaithful woman, he never got to proclaim his feelings for Shura before he left her, and even the visit to his mother itself was unsatisfying. He never got to finish his dealings before he was killed in the war. He never got a chance to communicate.Furthermore, in terms of form, the Ballad is representative of the loosening of the conditions on montage after Stalin. One sees interesting camera views (like the experimental ones of the 1920s) again, like the upside-down camera when the tanks are chasing Alyosha, or the recurring shots of the moving backgrounds when Alyosha and Shura are on the train. Like The Cranes are Flying, this was another very enjoyable "separation" film of the Thaw.