★ 7 / 10
When the young "Alyosha" (Vladimir Ivashov) risks life
CinemaSerf
When the young "Alyosha" (Vladimir Ivashov) risks life and limb to take out a couple of approaching Nazi tanks, his Comrade General (Nikolay Kryuchkov) proudly…
When the young "Alyosha" (Vladimir Ivashov) risks life and limb to take out a couple of approaching Nazi tanks, his Comrade General (Nikolay Kryuchkov) proudly suggests an official citation for his bravery. Instead, he pleads to be allowed to travel home to fix his mother's roof. The battalion is due for some rest anyway, so he is given a furlough for six days to get home and get back. Armed with some tins of beef and a message from one of his colleagues to his sweetheart, he sets off on a journey across a war-torn land where he has to use his wits and guile to make it in time. Along the way he meets "Shura" (Zhanna Prokhorenko) who is also fleeing from their invaders and after a typically nervous start in a hay-strewn railway carriage, the two begin to bond as their journey reminds them not just of the dangers of soldiering during wartime, but also of the fairly profound effects that can have on a civilian population struggling for basics - physical and emotional. Aleksandr Kuznetsov is really the only other actor to have anything like a recurring role - he is the train sentry not averse to a little tinned beef either, otherwise it's down to the two actors to tell a story of endurance and love that is really quite endearing. The horrors of war are never far away, but they don't overwhelm a plot that is essentially about humanity, decency and family in the face of unpredictability and fear - a toxic combination for a couple yet to get out of their teens. Ivashov shines here. His character's innocence and integrity are possibly designed for propagandist purposes, but they swiftly rise above that to show us a story of a young man who could just as easily have fought for any of the allies during WWII - and I thought he delivered it really personably. There's a hint of jeopardy at the end and as his journey is frequently tinged with a realism that isn't all rose-coloured cottages the whole thing comes across as a plausible tale of the impact of conflict and of, potently, what they were all fighting for in the first place. There's a lot packed into the ninety minutes, including some humour now and again, and I did enjoy it.
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★ 9 / 10
Notes From a Cold War Child
frankwiener
Many Americans suffered enormously on account of WWII. My own grandmother, who not only survived the Great Depression but also World War I while it was being…
Many Americans suffered enormously on account of WWII. My own grandmother, who not only survived the Great Depression but also World War I while it was being fought right in her own Polish town, once said that the most difficult event in her life was sending two of her sons off to battle in the faraway Pacific theater. One of them ended up in heavy combat on Okinawa, and the other one served as a bombardier.
As hard as World War II was for so many Americans, including my grandmother and my uncles, I believe that it was even more difficult for the Russians as a people. The terror of war came to their very doorsteps, civilians and warriors alike, and it was inescapable for them. Regardless of any specific political situation or attempt at propaganda by either side, I think that this historical fact must be objectively recognized and respected.
A "ballad" is a form of poetry, and, for me, "Ballad of a Soldier" is where poetry meets the camera. At the very beginning, the mother of the young, hero soldier who is the central character of the film looks out at the one unpaved road that leads in and out of her village. Somewhere at the end of the road, where ever that may be, is her beloved son. Overhead is an unforgiving sky, representing a sense of the power that controls all.
On the battlefield, we are terrified by a tank that is determined to chase our hero soldier through the countryside until he somehow manages to secure a position in order to destroy it and one other. Recognized by his superiors for his heroism, instead of a medal he requests a furlough pass to say farewell properly to his mother and to fix her leaking roof. It is granted for only a few days. Under the time pressure, the viewer witnesses his long, harrowing journey home from the front, experiencing the chaos, displacement, and hardship of the war on civilians and soldiers alike. In the mayhem and the confusion, he also manages to find true love at a most unexpected time and place.
I am sorry that this film was unavailable to me as a ten year old child in 1959 when it was produced. Aside from the political climate that prevailed at the time, which was mostly filled with fear, perhaps I would have been old enough to judge that Russian people were of the same flesh and blood that I was and that their lives, not only as Russians but as human beings, were affected very seriously by the horrors of war. While it would have been a very important lesson for me at the time, it did not come too late for me 57 long years later. This is a beautiful movie. See it!
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Chainsaw man