to go...or not to go.

i cannot believe that she abandoned her newborn child in order to rejoin the red army. this is the ultimate sacrifice for the Party.
She clearly struggles with her duty to her regiment and her duty to herself throughout the film. she is restless at the beginning of her stay with the jewish family. Eventually, she seems to become content. she does not want to abandon her regiment, but she has to in order to have the baby. this is a conflict of interest that she never gets over, hence her abandonment of her baby.

i saw more similarities with chapaev that i thought i would. first of all it has the white army winning(or at least being moderately successful). i thought both these movies would have had the red army winning in a romp or at least holding off the charging whites. secondly, the main character is faulted. chapaev had many issues, but his final devotion to the state was his redeeming quality. vavilova also had issues like having the baby of a person we do not meet. her ultimate devotion to the state screams socialist realism. at the end, the party and state win out over self-interest and the individual.

I think the film was prohibited from showing back in the 60s because the natural human instinct is disgust at vavilova's decision. this does not reflect the socialist dream in a positive light. it should not come before basic human needs and responsibilities. the state probably did not want this negative assessment to become the calling card for comrades.