Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Vladimir Ivashov | ... | Alyosha Skvortsov (as Volodya Ivashov) | |
Zhanna Prokhorenko | ... | Shura | |
Antonina Maksimova | ... | Katerina (Alyosha's Mother) | |
Nikolay Kryuchkov | ... | The General | |
Evgeniy Urbanskiy | ... | Vasya (The Invalid) | |
Elza Lezhdey | ... | Liza (The Invalid's Wife) | |
Aleksandr Kuznetsov | ... | Gavrilkin (The Train Sentry) | |
Evgeniy Teterin | ... | The Lieutenant ('A terrible beast') | |
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Valentina Markova | ... | Zoya (Skvortsovs' neighbor) |
Mariya Kremneva | ... | Elizaveta Petrovna (Pavlov's Wife) (as M. Kremnnyova) | |
Vladimir Pokrovskiy | ... | Vasiliy Egorovich (Pavlov's father) | |
Georgiy Yumatov | ... | The Driver | |
Gennadiy Yukhtin | ... | Seryozha Pavlov | |
Valentina Telegina | ... | Old Woman Truck Driver | |
Lev Borisov | ... | The Soldier (Pavlov's Buddy) |
During World War II, 19 year old soldier Alyosha gets a medal as a reward for a heroic act at the front. Instead of this medal he asks for a few days leave to visit his mother and repair the roof of their home. On the train eastwards he meets Shura who is on her way to her aunt. In those few days traveling together they fall in love. Written by Leon Wolters <wolters@strw.LeidenUniv.nl>
Gregori Chukhrai makes a very powerful, and poignant protest against the horror and futility of war. There is no whining, no accusing, only a very real, and believable, look at the effect that it has on some very ordinary people. People that each of us can relate to. I have to classify this as my all time favorite war movie. If you have a choice, watch it with the Russian language, and subtitles. The warmth is missing in the overdubbed voices, in the dubbed version. Although my Russian is as limited as possible, the emotion that is portrayed by the vocalizations of the actors, is powerful. One is certain to fall in love with either Vladimir Ivashov, or Zhanna Prokhorenko. This is one of those rare films, that each time one watches it, one gleans more from it, and feels that much closer to the film, the director/writer, and to the actors.