Ballad of a Soldier (1959)

Sadly Over-hyped

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

During World War II, the nineteen year-old Pvt. Alyosha Skvortsov (Volodya Ivashov) destroys two German tanks in the front and the general gives a medal to him. However Alyosha asks for a leave to visit his mother instead of the medal and the general gives six days to him. During his journey home, Alyosha helps a cripple dashed veteran to meet his wife; embarks as clandestine in a train and falls in love with the stowaway Shura (Zhanna Prokhorenko) that is traveling in the same wagon to visit her aunt; meets the unfaithful wife of Pavlov, a soldier that is in the front and misses her, to give soap to her. When he arrives home, it is time to return to the front in a journey with no return. "Ballada o soldate" is a film with the heartbreaking story of the return home of a teenage soldier to visit his mother and repair the roof of her house. Alyosha is charismatic and very gentle. The plot is realistic and the dramatic conclusion is very sad. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "A Balada do Soldado" ("The Ballad of a Soldier")

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.

War is Tragic, thousands experience it, maybe even the whole world; but this isn't what Grigori Chukrai wanted to show. He made the film an inmate experience, with slow moments, suspension, and room for intellectual thought all through the personal individual experience of Alyosha. Alyosha was young solider, from the country-side who managed to take down two enemy tanks. As his reward instead of a medal he received leave to visit his mother and fix her leaky roof. We begin the film with this scene and the knowledge that Alyosha would be leaving on his last leave, for he would die in the war. From his realistic heroism, his simple desire to see his mother again, and his death we know we are following the last days of a journey chalk full with all the experiences of young life and love. When we hear of war on the TV or a friend who knows someone who has died in a war we don't think of that individual life that was lost, but rather about the death toll or big picture. Ballad of a solider takes you away from all of that to see the faces that make up the military force. In this case the lives that Russia lost were so much like Alyosha young and kind, not a killing machine.

Grigori Chukhray's movie is still highly topical. It is one of the best anti-war films ever made. It reveals in a most outspoken way the human faces behind the bloodshed. It shows how war violence is not limited to the battlefield, but provokes also physical and mental havoc everywhere in the countries involved. People lose their homes, their possessions and even their country. People bleed also psychologically through broken or strained relationships and family ties. Women have to do a man's work at home. As a contrast to the satanic war machinery, Grigori Chukhray scripted a pure love encounter. But, it also didn't last very long. Ideologically, this movie is a perfect example of Marxist art: it has a positive hero, who is also a type, a representative of a particular class (a soldier, a 'Russian' soldier). 'Ballad of a Soldier' stands in sharp contrast to the actual avalanche of so-called blockbusters preaching an unacceptable and shameful gospel of violence. 'Ballad of a Soldier' in its way is also a blockbuster, but with 'big' sentiments, preaching love instead of hate, respect instead of inhumanity and family ties instead of random killings. 'Ballad of a Soldier' is a 'big' movie. A must see.