Ballad of a Soldier

Ballad of a Soldier is an amazing film that will break your heart. Alyosha, a 19-year old private in the Soviet army 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. The film is extremely well-paced in a natural, flowing rhythm with a smooth, unassuming camera and lovely lighting, which by the end helps set us up for the tragedy that will come.

Exceptionally engaging. The story is simple and beautiful, the actors are intoxicatingly charming, and the film is framed and lit to perfection. A must-see.

Remarkably clever, subtle, subversive and powerful, Ballad of a Solider is filled with poignant human moments, a man enjoying canned beef between train cars, workers eagerly listening to a radio broadcast before returning to their toil, and above all, a mother hugging her son, a quiet embrace that speaks volumes.

Hauntingly beautiful story. Unspoiled by any propaganda whatever. Excellent example of Soviet filmmaking, a simple story that gains emotional resonance through the strength of its images and unaffected technique. Wonderfully directed and photographed.

Unabashed, vain propaganda piece about hero worship and idolatry, with very little actual insight for the grief and trauma of war. Grotesquely, frustratingly sappy. Alyosha is barely a character at all; he's a rough outline of the idealized Russian Soldier - literally the exaltation bestowed upon him by the narrator in the final line of the film. Often mentioned in the same breath as The Cranes Are Flying, beside which this film utterly pales.

Good melodrama; very well-shot. Mostly takes a humanist approach, although there's a definite patriotic undercurrent.

I can already see the Russian proletariat weeping in unison.

The cinematography is absolutely impeccable and the story is simply heartbreaking to the bone, but more in a romantic than a depressive way. Definitely in the pantheon of Soviet-era films.

A touching Soviet film that's light on propoganda and big on heart. Excellent photography (Alyosha reuniting with Shura at the railroad overpass is stunning), I sensed a heavy Eisenstein influence in the way the characters were often shot in profile, low angle, staggered perspective. The hero of the story is a little too perfect for my tastes, though.

Not a bad film, but kind of a hollow shell. Soviet film schools were probably astute as the censors, and in that sense Nazi Germany was definitely worse.

Very fine Soviet antiwar film covering the war from a micro perspective. It's kind of a road movie in many ways, maybe even more than it's a war movie. The ending is matter of fact, choosing a straightforward approach over a tearjerker moment that so many Hollywood films would have had. Some of the shots are very beautiful, especially him with the girl with the background overlit. Good stuff.

Simple, low-key war saga is intently focused on the emotional component, both for those in the field and those on the home-front, rather than warfare itself; indeed the battle scenes here are comparatively scarce and discreet, showing the journey of Ivashov’s titular soldier’s attempts to go home. Stirring at times, with a great sense of time and place – you can’t help but feel the arm of Soviet propaganda sneaking in from time to time, but it’s far more restrained than the U.S. equivalent.

okay movie

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A Balada do Soldado estreava há 60 anos na União Soviética. A beleza das imagens e a poética da narrativa me lembraram muito o cinema do Dovzhenko, até uma veia ainda propagandística ainda ressoa na narração como era usual nos filmes da Mosfilms mesmo nas produções anti-bélicas do pós-guerra. BDRip no MakingOff.

ah kınalı kuzum

A simple film that reels you in and makes you relate with a soldier on his quest to see his mother.

Sweet and beautiful

rus degil de holivud filmi gibi. muzikleri idealizmi romantizmi

Rørende om en russisk soldat som får perm for å besøke sin mor, og på vegen møter en ung kvinne han blir forelsket i. Et par nydelige billedkomposisjoner, spesielt den der de to går for å hente vann blant noen ruiner, og en fin historie som tar for seg de mer personlige krisene krig medfører.

Film 2. dünya savaşı devam ederken, cephenin arkasında insanların yoksunluklarını, acılarını, beraberliklerini gösteriyor. Filmin çekildiği 1959 senesi, savaş sonrası Sovyetlerdeki yaraları sarma dönemi olduğu için filmin taşıdığı politik önem çok önemli. Filmin çekildiği yılda kommünist partinin lideri Khrushchev, Lenin prensiplerini benimsediği için film stalin dönemi filmlerin aksine

pure cinema. love it.

Pretty good story, and this movie just looks great. Otherwise, it's a little too sappy (despite many of the terrible things that happen) for me to really consider it great.

A solid score, some wonderful cinematography, and brisk pacing and editing redeem the contrived story and "theatrical" performances.

Beautiful touching story with a sweet and likable lead.

The astonishingly beautiful cinematography is the best and most memorable quality of this film. The main character's behavior towards the girl on the train was really off-putting, though, did nothing to illuminate his character, and then it turned into a sappy romance between them that almost totally ignored her losses and feelings. Their stuff was the least interesting part of the film, and for some reason it's stretched out quite a bit.

I'm a soulless bastard, I guess.

Such a touching story. This was so well told and finding out what happnes to the young soldier in the begining of the movie, makes this even more touching. I really enjoyed how well told and how well acted this movie was.