Ballada o soldate (1959)

Director:

Grigori Chukhrai

Writers:

Grigori Chukhrai (writer)
Valentin Ezhov (writer)

Release Date:

26 December 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

The Critics All Agree It's Great...And So Will You!

Plot:

During World War II, 19 year old soldier Alyosha gets a medal as a reward for a heroic act at the front...

Plot Keywords:

Train | Russia | Travelling Cinema | First Love | Going Home

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 4 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Vladimir Ivashov	...	Pvt. Alyosha Skvortsov (as Volodya Ivashov)
Zhanna Prokhorenko	...	Shura
Antonina Maksimova	...	The mother
Nikolai Kryuchkov	...	The general
Yevgeni Urbansky	...	Vasya (the invalid)
Elza Lezhdey	...	The invalid's wife (as E. Lezhdej)
Aleksandr Kuznetsov	...	Gavrilkin (the train sentry) (as A. Kuznetsov)
Yevgeni Teterin	...	The lieutenant ('A terrible beast') (as Ye. Teterin)
V. Markova	...	Liza (Pavlov's wife)
Marina Kremnyova	...	Zoya (neighbor girl) (as M. Kremnnyova)
Vladimir Pokrovsky	...	Pavlov's invalid father (as V. Pokrovsky)
Georgi Yumatov	...	Sergeant giving bars of soap (as G. Yumatov)
Gennadi Yukhtin	...	Pvt. Seryozha Pavlov (as G. Yukhtin)
Valentina Telegina	...	Old woman truck driver (as V. Telegina)
Lev Borisov	...	Joking soldier on train (as L. Borisov)

Also Known As:

Баллада о солдате (Soviet Union: Russian title)
Ballad of a Soldier (USA)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:U | UK:PG (re-rating) | Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 | Sweden:15 | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-8

Filming Locations:

Moscow, Russia

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Life as a Dream (2007) (V)

Clutching at your heart-strings

Alyosha, a 19-year old private in the Soviet army, more or less by accident neutralizes three German tanks and is allowed to return home to see his mother and fix her roof on a six-day leave. On a train he meets another stow-away, the timid Shura, and falls in love. The movie depicts the people he meets on his way home through war-torn Russia.

This is an amazing film, a kind of shaggy-dog story and one you are not liable to forget. It is so extremely well-paced in a natural, flowing rhythm with a smooth, unassuming camera and lovely lighting. Be that all is it may, whatever the film's affinities with Pudovkin masterpieces such as 'Earth' and 'Deserter', 'Ballad of a Soldier' is all heart, empathy and sincerity, and it will clutch at your heart-strings.

The boy is not yet jaded in the grown-up fashion, and the people he meets stir him into immediate sympathy, Alyosha is simply one of the most likable characters you will encounter in a film, without being trite or cutesy. And the people he meets are hardly ever as sympathetic as he is, witness private Pavlov's girlfriend, whom Alyosha promised to bring the soap as a gift. When he gets there, she has a lover visiting her, and although Alyosha judges her, the film itself does not. Its description of budding young love is enchanting, but it has, finally, its own bitter irony.

Watch this whenever you get the chance. Do not let prejudice about what you think Soviet cinema is like detain you.