Ballad of a Soldier is a story of family devotion, romance, and human goodness set in the backdrop of the devastation of Russia during World War II. Filmed in 1958 (and released the following year), it was a product of the post-Stalin Soviet era. It stands as dynamic proof that a film that deals sensitively with the most noble qualities of a great people accomplishes far more in the way of promoting a positive image than do any number of propaganda films. The good-heartedness of the Russian people and the heroic quality of their stoicism shines through brightly in this nationalistic but apolitical piece.

The story of the film is an odyssey. The stage is set from the outset when an elderly, melancholy woman walks along a desolate road, stops, and stares longingly into the distance as the narration informs us that she is the mother of a Russian hero who gave his life for his country and is now buried in a distant land, identified only as an unknown Russian soldier. It has been two years since she has seen him – she who knew everything about him from the day of his birth until the day that he left for the front. We understand that what is to follow is the remainder of his story.

Our hero is Alyosha Skvortsov (Vladimir Ivashov), a nineteen year-old soldier assigned the rather unglamorous job of a field observer, manning a radio device from a solitary foxhole. As we join him, he is frantically reporting to his unit two tanks bearing directly down upon him. He holds his position until it becomes clear that the lead tank intends to run over his position, then runs frantically ahead of the tank toward his unit’s position. The tanks gain ground on him as he tires and, in desperation, he turns and fires on the lead tank with his rifle. Miraculously, the tank explodes. Emboldened, he fires on the second tank, and it, too, is disabled. Almost by accident and with great good fortune, he has become a hero!

His unit commander commends him and indicates his intention to recommend him for military decoration. Alyosha requests that he instead be allowed a brief leave in order to return home to see his mother so as to help her fix a leaky roof. The commanding officer is moved by the request and, making an exception, allows him six days leave – two days travel each way and two days to complete the repair.

The only feasible mode of travel across Russia for Alyosha is by train – freight trains or troop transports. Even then, it is catch as catch can. As he travels, he meets a variety of Soviet people of various ethnicities, some helpful, some not, but all sharing in the hardships of wartime. As he encounters buildings that have been leveled by bombing and goods shortages of all kinds, he and we discover that the horrors of war are only marginally worse on the battlefield than the home front. He meets a soldier returning from the front having lost a leg, fearing that his wife will reject him should he return in this condition. Buoyed by Alyosha’s support, the soldier is encouraged to hope for the best. Alyosha encounters another soldier who begs him to take a message to his wife along with two bars of soap contributed by the soldier’s unit, at great sacrifice. When Alyosha later delivers the letter and the soap, he discovers that the wife has taken up with another man. Alyosha reclaims the offering of soap from her and delivers it instead to the soldier’s nearly destitute family. We learn that one of the many kinds of devastation from war is destruction of marriages, but Alyosha’s quest to return to his mother and his gift to the soldier’s family remind us that the strongest family bonds survive even the horrors of war. Though there is melancholy in these episodes, it is Alyosha’s kindness and goodness that we experience most strongly.

Alyosha has to bribe a soldier in order to stowaway on a freight train. While he hides amidst the hay, in order not to be discovered by the lieutenant in charge, another stowaway hops into the same car – a beautiful dark-haired young woman. When he reveals himself, it is all he can do to dissuade her from jumping off of the moving train and to assure her that he poses no harm. She is Shura (Zhanna Prokhorenko), who claims to be traveling to meet her boyfriend. Though initially cautious of one another, they gradually recognize in each other a similar embodiment of hope and goodness. As they travel together through the middle part of the film, as they are later briefly separated, and as they each engage in desperate measures to reconnect, their love grows deeper. Shura finally reveals that there is, in fact, no boyfriend that she is traveling to meet, but only he that she now loves.

Reaching her destination, they must, nevertheless, part, as Alyosha’s duty to both his mother and his country remains unchanged. What should have been a two-day trip home has already consumed nearly four. With the aid of a military truck, he reaches home with barely enough time to speak briefly with his mother and hug her, before immediately beginning his trip back to the front and near certain death.

The black-and-white cinematography of this film, which is in the Soviet realist style, nicely portrays the hope and idealism of the central characters against the despair of war-ravaged Russia. Chukhrai pays delicate attention to the lighting in the romantic close-ups involving Alyosha and Shura, with delightful effect. The respective actors, Vladimir Ivashov and Zhanna Prokhorenko, were both lovely creatures that went on to have long careers in cinema and they grace this film with fully engaging performances. The story is well-paced, rolling along inexorably like the rhythm of the wheels of the trains.

Ballad of a Soldier is suitable for any age group and has a running time of 89 minutes. The American release is in Russian language with English subtitles.


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You might want to check out these other excellent films from Russia and the U.S.S.R.:

Alexander Nevsky
Andrei Rublev
Anna Karenina
Burnt By the Sun
Come and See
The Cranes Are Flying
Dersu Uzala
Don Quixote
Freeze Die
Ivan the Terrible
Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears
Nostalghia
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
Solaris
Strike
War and Peace

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older