1959 · drama · war · romance
Ballad of a Soldier
Directed by Grigoriy Chukhray1h 29m1959
During World War II, earnest young Russian soldier Alyosha Skvortsov is rewarded with a short leave of absence for performing a heroic deed on the battlefield. Feeling homesick, he decides to visit his mother. Due to his kindhearted nature, however, Alyosha is repeatedly sidetracked by his efforts to help those he encounters, including a lovely girl named Shura. In his tour of a country devastated by war, he struggles to keep hope alive.
Our read: Ballad of a Soldier (1959) reads as a sombre, measured, grounded drama · war · romance entry — measured in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, measured in temperature, ambivalent in outlook, with a strong directorial signature.
Sombre, measured, measured drama / war, grounded in texture. Ambivalent, mid-stakes, measured.
- sombre
- measured
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“You want gentle wartime romance that earns tears without battle scenes.”
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