Ballad of a Soldier (1959)

9/10

mik-1929 April 2005

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.

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9/10

Beautifully sad, moving, and photographically expressive

secondtake14 January 2011

Ballad of a Soldier (1959)

An old fashioned but utterly gorgeous film about a soldier discovering something bigger about himself than even the war could teach him on the battlefield. It's a drama about life, photographed with what strikes me as a European poetic visual sensibility. In its lyrical flow, it is amazing. No other word for it.

In 1959, the Soviet Union was only 14 years away from the end of the war that cost them 23 million deaths (10 million of these were soldiers). And a ravaged countryside. This is monumental in a way that we Americans have trouble appreciating, even though our own losses were around 1 million, including civilians directly and indirectly. But with this kind of staggering history, the very touching tale of a very innocent boy wanting to get back to his mother for a single hug is heart wrenching. Director Grigori Chukhrai, himself Ukrainian, seems to know that his role, in the Khrushchev era of Cold War USSR, is to show the best of the Soviet heart and soul.

The journey, for the viewer, is often filled with silence, and with carefully composed shots of the boy, alone or with other travelers (often soldiers). The light and the framing is moving even on its own terms. Many times the key face in foreground is sharp and softly stark while many other faces fall out of focus around this, camera tilted, or looking up, with flickers of light from trees outside the train window or a diffused glow of a grey sky drenching it all with melancholy.

Alyosha, the young man who by some fast wits and luck knocked out two tanks in the first scene and earned this special trip, meets a variety of people on his way who each represent a part of the Soviet (mostly Russian, but with a nod to Ukrainians) experience: a wounded man going home without his leg, a young conscript heading to the front to probably never return, this same young man's father in a hospital apparently dying, and a girl his own age, equally pure and nearly untouched by life's horrors. In every case, there is a kind of Soviet optimism that is almost refreshing even if it is just slightly reminiscent of their earlier propaganda movies. Because, the wounded man meets his wife at the station and is renewed, the young conscript is cheerful and hale, the father is proud and glad his son is a good soldier, the mean officer has an understanding heart, the sergeant gives his only soap to the traveller, and so on.

But this kind of goodness is part of what makes the film special. There is no room for noir cynicism, or even existential loneliness. After all, Alyosha has found the truest of true love, and even though he may be returning to the war to never return, the boy and girl have elevated each other, and the movie, and the viewer, with a real sense of what being good is all about. If you can find this movie, see it by all means.

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9/10

Notes From a Cold War Child

frankwiener25 July 2016

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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Rare evocation of history's worst war on the home front

Oct24 March 2002

Warning: Spoilers

In connection with the cinema's 100th anniversary, the BBC invited a number of celebrities to choose personal favourites. Michael Douglas picked this neglected Soviet-era classic, thus making full amends for his choice of knitwear in the 'Basic Instinct' disco scene.

Made towards the end of Khruschev's "thaw", when artists were allowed out on a looser rein, the film depicts an accidental hero: a somewhat gormless, naive, gawky country boy drafted into the front line. His bravery is momentary and reflexive but wins him a coveted spot of leave. (The Red Army did not give its soldiers any time off in the ordinary way.) He tries to get back to his home village long enough to put a new roof on his mother's shack of a house, but is delayed en route, and has time only to greet her and say goodbye before returning to duty and death.

Alyosha is swimming against the tide. The Soviets are pushing forward, pushing the Germans out of their land, but he encounters more chaos, misery and stoic endurance than jubilation: a one-legged veteran who fears his wife will spurn him, a mother driving a lorry whose son was killed, a surly rear-echelon private who tries to kick him off the train on which he and his equally shy girlfriend have bummed a ride. The atmosphere of disruption, of thousands of lives turned upside down, is brilliantly accumulated by such cameos with hardly any actual 'action'.

There is no Communist preaching to speak of, and significantly the spoken narrative over the sky at the end says: "He would have been a fine man... but we remember him just as a soldier- a Russian soldier." Not as a Bolshevik comrade, not as a freedom-fighter against fascism: the film is true to the truth of the "Great Patriotic War", in which millions of Alyoshas fought and died for their patch of earth, not for ideology or Stalin.

Chukhrai's later movies have not been seen widely in the West. They should be.

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10/10

Beautiful and moving

howard.schumann27 December 2004

In World War Two, almost thirty million Russian soldiers and civilians were killed in the fight against fascism, a fact mainly ignored during the paranoia of the Cold War. In our attempt to demonize everything Russian, we also overlooked stories of individual heroism. In 1959, Russian director Grigory Chukhraj made a film attempting to describe "what happens when the world loses a single person" and it is a masterpiece. The beautiful and moving Ballad of a Soldier tells a personal story that illuminates how war can ravish both an individual and a country. The film is set in Russia in the midst of the war. Pvt. Alyosha Skvortsov (Vladimir Ivashov), a signaller, has earned a commendation by destroying two German tanks. Instead of accepting a medal, he requests to be granted a four-day leave to go home and visit his mother.

We learn early through the narration that this soldier did not survive the war so his journey home to visit his mother for one last time becomes all the more poignant. The film, however, is not about a destination but about a journey. The four-day trip encompasses a lifetime of experience. Before hiding out in a freight car, Alyosha encourages a soldier (Yevgeny Urbansky) who has lost his leg to go home to his wife. Along the way, he hitches a ride on a rain-soaked road with a woman deprived of sleep for 48 hours. He brings a present of soap to an unfaithful wife of another soldier but changes his mind and gives it to her father who longs for his son's return. He also meets Shura (Zhanna Prokhorenko), a radiant young woman who, like him, hides out in a freight car. Reluctant at first and fearful of Alyosha, the young couple experiences their first love in several sensitive scenes but it is to be short-lived.

Ballad of a Soldier, of course, aims to present Russian soldiers in the best possible light yet Chukhraj does not hesitate to show his characters as real human beings with flaws. A venal security guard is willing to grant the young soldier free passage in a freight car in exchange for cans of beef, and the wife of a soldier is unfaithful to her soldier husband, a sequence that landed the director in trouble with the Russian censors. In Alyosha, Chukhraj has created a good person: kind, loving, and noble but not larger than life, a soldier perhaps typical of millions of young men who gave their lives to protect their homeland. Their struggle and personal sacrifice has been immortalized in a great film.

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10/10

So little time to love,so much time to die.

dbdumonteil23 January 2004

"Ballada o soldate" has one of the most poignant sequences of all war movies:when the mother holds only for a few minutes, her dear boy in her arms,it's impossible to hold back your tears .I saw the movie for the first time thirty years ago and I have never forgotten it.Far from politics ,"ballada o soldate" is an universal poem,enhanced by a magnificent grandiose score,which enhances the simple beauty of the pictures,climaxing on a symphony for the finale.

Aliocha's furlough is so short (48 hours) and it's such a long way to his dear home.His journey becomes an odyssey ,but ,unlike Ulysses,his happiness will be short-lived.He and the girl form one of the most touching,lovable and innocent couple you will see on a screen.Their simple joys ,particularly when they share the soldier's food,or when they meet again in the desert station,are the ones which make a life worthwhile,even in the hell which surrounds them.

Sometimes recalling Sirk's " a time to love and a time to die"(1958)from Erich Maria Remarque ,the great German pacifist writer,with which it shares the same disgust of war ("I wanted to film a subject which could condemn war",the director said),"ballada o soldato" is one of these rare movies that will reward you each time you watch it.

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10/10

This is a most powerful, and positive, statement against war.

CharlieA-229 June 1999

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.

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10/10

Argentinian cinéaste Eliseo Subiela and his father wept inconsolably after watching this humanist masterpiece.

FilmCriticLalitRao1 June 2007

In the 1950s, 2 very critically acclaimed Russian films were made. The first film was "The cranes are flying" by Mikhail Kolotozov. It is true that it was a good film but it was more of a love story. If there is a film which all human beings must watch, it is "Ballad of a soldier" made by the great Russian cinéaste Grigori Chukrai. I still have vivid memories of this film, although I saw it in 1986 on India's only public television network called "Doordarshan". What I like the most about this film is that it has tremendous emotional power to move anyone regardless of that person's ideologies or beliefs. It talks of war without begging for kindness, mercy or pity. Such is the greatness of this masterpiece. In my opinion," Ballad of a soldier" is not only the greatest Russian film ever made, it is one of the greatest world cinema gems too. For those who have not yet seen it, one word of advice. Throw away all your Hollywood flicks and watch this humanist masterpiece. PS :10 out of 10 is a understatement. "Ballad of a soldier" would easily fetch 100 out of 10.

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10/10

A little masterpiece.

Rueiro3 October 2010

This is one of the greatest anti-war movies ever made and a touching little human drama that has not lost any of its power after half a century. After fifteen years since I first saw it, it remains among my ten favourite movies of all time from any country. It is full of poetry and visual beauty; a humble masterpiece from a young director at that time, who encountered all sorts of problems and restrictions during the shooting. Nevertheless, his perseverance to bring this work to life and the touchingly realistic performances of the cast make of this movie not only one of the best films that ever came out of the Soviet Union but also a classic gem of world cinema.

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10/10

A film of rare beauty and powerful emotion

bob-790-19601824 October 2013

Warning: Spoilers

For me this is a beloved movie, one that I have just seen for the third time and no doubt will see again after time passes.

A 19-year-old Soviet soldier who knocks out two Nazi tanks is offered a decoration by his general. Instead the soldier, Alyosha, asks for a short leave so he can travel home to see his mother and fix her roof. Along the way he meets a variety of vividly portrayed characters. One of these is Shura, a pretty young woman. They fall in love, are separated when their train pulls out without him, are almost miraculously reunited, and finally are separated for good, without his having ever declared his love for her.

Having helped a number of people during his journey and encountered various delays, Alyosha finally arrives at his home village with only minutes remaining before he must rush to catch his train back to the front. The few moments in which he and his mother embrace are heartbreaking--particularly since we already know from the voice-over that opens the movie that he is doomed never to return home.

He is not the only casualty of war. During his journey home we see many casualties. While not a grim picture, "Ballad of a Soldier" gives a sense of how the Russian people suffered in World War II.

It's been called an antiwar movie, but there is a deeper theme, etched in sharp relief by the forces of war on ordinary people. We are reminded of how fleeting is youth and the beauty of young men and women, and how precious is the little time we have to experience the joys of life. There is a profound sadness in this movie.

Back in 1959 when this film appeared, the late critic Stanley Kauffmann dismissed the movie as superficial and snidely remarked that director Grigori Chukrai would be happy working at Twentieth Century Fox. It is easy to be cynical about the earnest expression of emotion. I tend to believe, however, that, unlike Mr. Kauffmann, the great Anton Chekhov would have been genuinely moved by "Ballad of a Soldier."

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7/10

A Russian War Tale

gavin69421 February 2016

Young Russian soldier Alyosha (Vladimir Ivashov) earns a medal, but asks to visit his mother instead. His journey recounts various kinds of love during wartime.

The film received considerable praise for both its technical craft and its strong, yet subtle story. Viewed from the earnestness and unabashed youthfulness of the protagonist, the film was hailed as an instant classic by Soviet and American critics.

We are quite lucky there was a "thaw" in the Cold War at the time this film came out, as it allowed Americans to see what their "enemies" were doing: making really good anti-war films. Despite all the political rhetoric of the leaders, the average person just wanted to live a happy life. The characters in this film could be Russian, American, French or anything else...

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10/10

One of the best russian movies ever made!

IlyaMauter7 April 2003

"Ballad of a Soldier" along with "Andrei Rublev" is one of my favorite Russian films ever and one of the great movies made in USSR during Khruschev´s so-called "thaw" period in the late 1950s and early 1960s when soviet filmmakers got a certain amount of an artistic freedom and were less controlled by the Soviet state.

Directed and co-written by master Russian filmmaker of a soviet era, and also a WW-2 veteran, Grigory Chukhrai, who was even nominated for this picture for Academy Award for Best Screenplay, the film is set during WW-2. It´s a story of 19 year old Russian soldier who as a reward for a heroic act in fighting with Germans given a 3 day leave home by his commanding officer. We follow the soldier´s journey home through ravished by war land where he meets different people and witnesses how they lives are affected by war and falls in love with a girl whom he occasionally meets on a train. The atmosphere created by this movie is quite unique, rarely before or after achieved on the film. A genuine masterpiece of a world cinema. A must see. 10/10

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7/10

BALLAD OF A SOLDIER (Grigori Chukhrai, 1959) ***

Bunuel19762 December 2006

This simple, sensitively handled love story with a WWII background is often bundled together with Mikhail Kalatozov's THE CRANES ARE FLYING (1957) - they were both issued simultaneously on R1 DVD by Criterion and will likewise be issued on R2 by Nouveaux Pictures next January - but actually they are poles apart in terms of stylistic approach. Director Chukhrai shows little of the overpoweringly visual virtuosity of Kalatozov's film (except for the superb sequence near the beginning which earns the main character his heroic status) preferring to capture the reality of the scene rather than its emotional core.

Even so, BALLAD OF A SOLDIER is a beautifully made film with winning performances from its youthful leads: a 19-year old boy who wins a much-coveted 6-day leave from the front after blowing up two enemy tanks single-handedly and the suspicious waif he befriends (and subsequently falls in love with) on his clandestine train journey. Events beyond his control contrive to make his visit to his farm-laborer mother a pitifully short one after which, the unidentified narrator tells us, he is once again drafted off to the front to his eventual death (which we never actually see); his misadventures during that train journey and visit to his village take up the bulk of the film as he meets a one-legged soldier coming reluctantly back home to his wife, a greedy train guard who is constantly demanding food from the soldier as a bribe against his telling his superiors that they are stowaways, the duplicitous wife of a comrade of his and his bed-ridden, ever optimistic father, etc.

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9/10

"A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic."

rooprect5 March 2007

"A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic" is the famous quote by Stalin. In this movie we see a marvellous illustration of the sentiment.

Don't worry; I didn't spoil anything. We learn from the opening narration that this is the story of a fallen hero. With that in mind, the atmosphere of impending tragedy colours the entire film despite the film's rather charming presentation. It's a wonderful irony, because the director opens with such a powerful & nihilistic statement, but then he follows with a sweet and inspiring presentation which you might even call "innocent".

I'm not exactly a fan of war movies, but I don't consider this to be one at all. There are very few details about the war, no politics, no propaganda. Essentially you can replace the Russian uniforms with British, German or Japanese, and the story would remain the same--"The Ballad of a Soldier". Oddly enough, it's the compelling portrayal of rustic life (which he encounters along his journey) that provides the backbone and theme of this film, a very human story.

It reminds me of the Italian classic "Bicycle Thieves" as well as the Japanese masterpiece "Ikuru" by Kurosawa. Each scene packs a lot of heart, and the grand finale brings it all together poetically and artistically. I won't mention any names, but I sure wish certain other artsy Russian directors could be as lucid and authentic in their presentations.

One more thing... I can't end this review without mentioning the SUPERB MUSIC. The composer is listed as Mihkail Ziv, but IMDb offers no biographical info on him. The melody is powerful and epic while being traditional and intimate at the same time. It really mirrors the theme of the film perfectly: things of great importance come in simple packages.

This movie gets 9 stars from me, which is about the highest rating I ever give. See it if you ever get the chance.

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10/10

At an age when one falls in love, he went to die in war

p_radulescu30 August 2010

When I saw Ballade of a Soldier for the first time I was fifteen, and I felt in love for the girl. A love as innocent and as total as in the movie. I was tending to identify myself with the soldier, and I was seeing myself in the freight car, finding the girl there, behaving kindly, as he was doing, and finding in her eyes the same response.

Many years passed and I had the chance to see the movie again. I was now in my early sixties: no more identifying with the young heroes, still loving their love, following their innocence with a joy balanced by sadness. My empathy was naturally going now to the old mother, as I knew this time so well that there are losses that time never heals.

At an age when one falls in love, he went to die in war. He wasn't a larger than life hero, he was just an adolescent, and that's why it was so easy for me to enter his skin in my imagination; I was also an adolescent, I also was not larger than life, and I was also supposed to fall in love, as he did.

Grigori Chukhrai made this movie in 1959, three years after Сорок первый (another gem), and two years before Чистое Небо (a movie trying maybe to say too much, this time, but definitely with some unforgettable moments).

And let's mention here the names of the actors who played the two young innocent lovers: Vladimir Ivashov and Zhanna Prokhorenko.

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10/10

Well worth a look!

Allan-321 October 1998

Warning: Spoilers

Ballad of a Soldier is a fine, humanistic view of war as experienced by a young Russian soldier. The young soldier is everything a Boy Scout should be: trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverend. Well, maybe hold the reverend.

Having managed to save a bunch of his comrades from certain death at the hands of the Nazis, the young soldier is called to the general's hq. There, the general tells him he's putting the lad's name in for a medal of valor. Fine, says the boy, but could I please go home to see my mother?

The general hesitates, but encouraged by the soldiers surrounding him, he lets the boy go home, making him promise to get to see his mother and come back to the front within four days.

So the lad goes home, and along the way he does favors for some of his comrades, he helps a lovely young maiden in distress, and he generally spreads good will. He gets home in time to give his mom a hug - there's an incredible scene with him and his dear old mom (wearing a babushka) running toward each other through a field of wheat. Then he wipes away her tears, and tells her he's got to go back. Immediately. A promise is a promise.

What a film. If you can watch this one without crying over the human condition, you're just plain not human!

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10/10

My all-time favorite movie

mahe6726 July 2010

This is the best movie I ever seen all my life - I have seen no other film that compares to this one.The movie is about the romantic love of a young couple, and a mother's love of her child.

No movie ever can get better than this one. A young Russian soldier (Alyosha) almost accidentally becomes a hero. As a reward he gets a 4 day leave back home.

The movie is about his momentous trip back home. This is also one of the most beautiful love stories you will ever see. On his trip home he meets a beautiful young girl named Shura. You will yearn, and want this couple to hug and kiss

I can't recommend this movie high enough. If anyone ever told you that they didn't cry at the end, they are either bloody liars or no human on earth.

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8/10

Ballad of a soldier is Cold War movie that warms my heart

ironhorse_iv23 August 2014

Warning: Spoilers

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.

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10/10

The Greatest Anti-War Movie Ever Made

ashi47822 January 2014

I know it is a very grand statement to say that this is the greatest anti-war movie made so far. I have a good reason for that though. Every anti-war movie has showed the fighting and showed the killing of people. However, this mostly focuses on the physical faults of war rather than emotional faults. The excessive violence in other movies also numbs the audience to gore and violence.

Ballad of a Soldier keeps the violence and bloodshed to a minimum. Instead, the movie focuses on the emotional impact of the war on the innocent civilians and soldiers outside of the battlefield. The chemistry between Alyosha and Shura is amazing. The simplicity of the plot is brilliant and allows exposure of real human interaction. The movie focused on one soldier rather than having a grand scale of characters and action. This way, we can take this one person as an example of the millions of lives similar to Aloysha's that were lost in the war.

The subtlety and simplicity of this film is what makes it so great. I love it and it's a masterpiece. I rewatch it over and over again. Everyone should see it.

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Not a Tractor in Sight

dougdoepke13 June 2009

Comedians used to poke fun at Soviet movies during the Cold War era. The claim was that every Soviet film could be characterized by a single standard plot line—"Boy meets tractor, Boy falls in love with tractor, Boy marries tractor". Now, I'm not sure how accurate the wags were since Soviet films were never shown here, nor ours there. But, given Soviet emphasis on collective farming, and their theory that art should follow politics, that sort of result wouldn't be surprising.

Nonetheless, Soviet-made or not, this 1959 humanist gem shines like a proverbial pearl in the night. Sure, the boy and girl are idealized, but were there ever two more charming performers; they even look alike. Moreover, it's that natural glow amidst the seediest surroundings that suggests what some might call a triumph of the human spirit. After years of slickly contrived Hollywood pairings, I was captivated by a warmth and chemistry seemingly so unforced and unrehearsed that I marvel at how it was done. In my book, it's one of the great compelling love stories of the big screen.

Just as importantly, the movie is anti-war, but subtly so. We do see some devastation and combat, but the real indictment lies elsewhere. It rests with all the potentials cut short by unrelenting demands of the war machine. The boy must return to his unit or risk being shot as a deserter. Thus he must abandon the injured soldier with whom he could have been friends; he must risk losing the love of his life because trains must run on wartime; he must leave his mother, without even time to fix the leaky roof. But most of all, war demands that he, like so many fine young men, must leave life with a personal potential that will go tragically unrealized. As one of Chukrai's effects brilliantly illustrates, war is indeed a world turned upside down.

Also, there are the stunning visuals. Those vast Russian steppes may be flat and boring. Nonetheless, the corresponding big sky makes a magnificent backdrop for heroic low-angle shots of those dwelling amidst the vastness. Then there's that long dusty road at film's end, leading off into a great unknown that Alyosha must now travel. In contrast are the teeming crowds at the railway station, looking nothing like Hollywood in their simple cloth dresses and shirts. And what concern with fancy hair-do's can the women have when their hair is bound down with knotted kerchiefs. All in all, it's a revealing look at what could be called the Russian peasantry of the time.

No, the movie clearly doesn't come from the ministry of propaganda. Still, there are concessions. Note how cooperative strangers become no matter how initially cranky they are. The army officers especially are portrayed as understanding and non-threatening. Nobody is depicted negatively, except maybe the disloyal wife. Not even the Nazi enemy responsible for 20 million Russian dead is mentioned, let alone, vilified. No, the real antagonist here is war itself; the point is not stated, but it is shown to an uncommonly moving degree. The dedication at film's end may be to the Russian soldier, but the subtext throughout aims at the universal, regardless of time, place, or nationality.

Thus 50 years later, the movie remains a timeless humanist classic. And with it, I think Chukrai deserves a place alongside the early masters of Soviet film, that is, before the Stalinist tyranny descended. Now, I have nothing against tractors. In fact, I wish Hollywood would feature more such life-affirming inventions than the exploding cars they so love and worship. Nonetheless, I guess I'm glad that here, there's not a single tractor in sight.

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7/10

Affecting Soviet WWII story

bandw10 September 2008

Warning: Spoilers

This is a simple story. Alyosha Skvortsov, a private in the Soviet Army during WWII, destroys two enemy tanks and, in exchange for receiving official recognition for his accomplishment, asks for leave to see his mother and repair her roof. After some hesitation his commanding officer is taken by Alyosha's innocent sincerity and grants him a six day leave; the rest of the movie details Alyosha's journey home. Given how difficult travel was at the time, and the distance to be covered, it was not clear to me how Alyosha ever figured he could make it home and back in six days. I think it would have helped non-Russians to have had a map.

Alyosha travels by hitching and by hopping trains. In some of the most affecting and believable scenes Alyosha meets a depressed man who has lost a leg and is convinced his wife will not accept him on his return. It is Alyosha's genuine, gentle good nature that helps this man to have the courage to continue his journey, and the last we see of him he has been happily reunited with his wife.

The main event of the trip has Alyosha meeting a young woman on one of his train trips. Their relationship develops slowly and tenderly, but I ultimately found it too romanticized. The swelling music and soft close-ups were too conspicuous in trying to achieve their goal. And after the couple's unfortunate separation, their chance reunion seemed highly improbable.

There is some remarkable black and white cinematography. Director Chukhrai has taken a page out of Bergman's book by filming black figures silhouetted against gray skies and lonely backgrounds. The film stock does not seem up to the quality of a lot of black and white films of the time, it lacks in contrast and sharpness.

The reunion of Ayosha with his mother at the end tears at your heart, knowing from the beginning of the film that this will be their last brief meeting. The message of the toll that war takes on average citizens comes across clearly--there is no happy ending here.

I liked this movie, but it did not seem to touch me as deeply as others have testified to.

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10/10

The most human of Russian films

Huron3 January 1999

Chukrai has made a film that combines the great Russian visual style with the most human of filmmaking. Ivashov is superb as the soldier who knows his duty as well as his family. A movie that reaches and touches its audience for many reasons and on many levels. Of all the Russian films I've seen this is the one that touched my heart.

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6/10

A Great Film For A Traveler, Otherwise Just a Curiosity

verbusen1 June 2009

Warning: Spoilers

SPOILER ALERT It's always interesting for me to come across a world war two movie that I have not seen, and I can appreciate watching one from a foreign country even more. This is my fifth or sixth eastern European made war film dating from Battleship Potemkin, there just don't seem to be many available to the American market, a couple of those that I saw (overseas on foreign TV not American), were way over the top comic book war movies, which I do not place this movie in. The Russian movies all seem to tug at the heart strings and it's good, it adds a human factor, but they usually over do it. With this one I was really expecting a very dramatic ending, I wont say it was a let down as I had lost a lot of interest in the film by then, but to see all these 10 star reviews does seem a little overrated. If you read who the reviewers are and where they live it gives you a better clue on who would totally love this film, I have to think they are travelers, it's all good, but I'm just saying; this is not a movie I'm going to tell everyone I know to go see right away, it was good, but not great. Then again, I'm not a traveler (I joined the military to help protect the USA from Soviet aggressions in the 1980's) so take that into account. If I can make a critical thought without offending comrade, it reminded me of the movie's Planes Trains and Automobiles crossed with The Clock (Judy Garland and Robert Walker), except it was in Russian and the ending is patriotically a sad one (although the ending is not shown, just a narrative like in the movie Bataan). 6 of 10 for some tender moments and a cool battle scene in the beginning, it's no Aleksandr Nevskiy and why it's ranked higher at IMDb.com is because it's obscure and not widely seen.

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9/10

"Ballad of a Soldier" is a story too good for Hollywood.

Sergeant_Tibbs10 July 2013

Ballad of a Soldier is a story too good for Hollywood. With love and tragedy in equal measure, this film is an exploration of love between a man and a woman - platonic, romantic and maternal. Each possibility tugs hard at the heartstrings. The protagonist, a soldier called Alyosha, is very young and naive, which makes him a more relatable character than someone whose charm precedes them. From his first meeting with Shura to their last encounter, there's a charm between them that makes the audience beg for them to stay together as she accompanies him on his journey despite delaying him. Their last train rain with their loving bittersweet stare tugs at the heartstrings in a way that shows that genuine love in film is rare.

While there are a few contrivances, such as the opening scene where Alyosha is chased by a tank until he gets a chance to blow it up, but the film does flow very gracefully. The drama is always excellent with believable characters and dialogue the whole way through and very subtle moral dilemmas. Our protagonist is racing against time from the very moment the film ends and it never stops which makes for always compelling viewing. It has great cinematography despite some choppy editing in places, reminiscent of an earlier Russian war film The Cranes Are Flying though perhaps not as impressive. The huge operatic score accompanies the film throughout and highlights the power of the film, though Alyosha's final embrace with his mother is music-less and arguably even more powerful than his embrace with Shura. Incredible film.

9/10

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9/10

A Ballad of the Heart.

EyeDunno24 August 2015

I hesitated watching BALLAD because I was a bit concerned about seeing a propaganda film. But boy, did I cheer the soldier in this story! The filmmakers did a fine job to build sympathy for him from the moment the viewer laid eyes on him. He's handsome, tall and the kind of person with that boy-next-door appearance. It is really a tightly-knitted film in which you wonder from the opening scene, about the son, whose mother longingly stares down the one road into their home town. Having the opportunity to follow his journey, we really get a sense about his upbringing, his hopes and dreams, and where his heart lies. I dare not divulge too much, because it was such a treat to see how this young man undertakes a journey to try and see his mother.

As for calling this a "war" story, it's not the kind that we might picture: the John Wayne flicks, or ones like, "Saving Private Ryan," for instance. There's not much violence in this film, at all.Rather than a film with attitude, it's a film of the heart. And BALLAD certainly has heart. This film delivers with a terrific story line, in which the filmmakers help the viewer open their hearts up to those of the main characters. Witty combinations of humor and nostalgia transcend borders, giving the viewer a sense of wanting to know many of the people portrayed in this film. Why, I actually searched for further information about the lead players, and my heart dropped when I learned that both of the main talents recently passed away in real life. In a sense, it felt as if I had lost two genuine friends.

BALLAD gives us the opportunity to see the two lead characters in their first roles. They were simply mesmerizing on film, which has preserved them in time. The players had little to no experience, yet their screen presence showed tenderness, charm and power. Please do yourselves a favor. If you're sitting on the fence about whether to watch BALLAD, go ahead and watch it. Even if it was a film to showcase Communism and the motherland of Russia, I didn't care.

I really argued whether to give this a perfect score, but just couldn't do it. And I'm trying to express why, yet I can't. I'd like to pick apart an obvious shot using models instead of real equipment, or maybe the shot of either lead looking through a window as trees reflected. Or perhaps the ending, which seemed a bit abrupt? It's the ending. I guess I wanted something a little more, or different. How nice it was, upon reflection, to watch an almost flawless film.

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