i really hoped this movie was going to have a happy ending.
The best part about this movie was its applicability to practically any soldier in world war II. Yes, Alyosha destroyed two tanks, but in reality, it wasn't much more than blind luck. He is just a regular kid fighting in a brutal war. He misses home and would do almost anything to get back there. This is the story of a generation of russian, french, english, german, italian, japanese belgian, american men. i believe the reason this film was so successful overseas was that if you didn't hear russian words being spoken, you could identify with it.
One of the most interesting things about this "war" movie was that it had very little war in it. There was plenty of talk about war and lots of debris, but aside from the bridge being blown up and alyosha blowing up two tanks, war takes a back seat to alyosha's journey home. Instead of touting party ideals as a be all and end all, this movie focuses on the goodness of an individual character. Alyosha's willingness to help others and sacrifice his own self-interest is a noble cause. His determination to get home just to say hi is also very impressive. There is not a focus on "saving the motherland." The questions about the war have mostly to do with the health of a child. Everyone cares about their individual kid as opposed to sacrificing whatever they can for Mother Russia.
I'd place this film in the entertainment section. It has some propaganda in it, but not the way we have traditionally seen it. The director, in my opinion, was condemning war as ruinous to young men with potential. So, it was not propaganda from the Party, but there was a point to be heard loud and clear.
3 comments:
In a way, it's through this brief journey home that Alyosha is able to experience at least a semblance of what normal life would have been like had there been peace instead (falling in love with a young girl, offering people assistance, etc.).
For me it's especially significant how Alyosha is referred to at the end as a Russian (rather than Soviet) soldier. *Chapaev* had taken the bold step of including Russian characteristics and setting them alongside Soviet ones. In some ways, Ballad of a Soldier seems to almost completely remove the Soviet identity in favor of the Russian one.
Your comments about the absence of a desire to 'save the motherland' were very insightful. I agreed with your opinion that this movie was largely universal. Also, I too felt that this movie advocated upstanding moral qualities as opposed to blind nationalism.
I agree with you, I really liked how this movie didn't focus on the war so much as Alyosha's journey home. I thought it was really good by today's standards even, in a strange way the movie even felt a little like "Saving Private Ryan" because of how the main character isn't going to fight during the war, the main character is searching for something besides battle, and besides glory. All this nineteen year old kid wanted to do was go home and see his mom before something happened to him, without him being able to say good bye to his mother. In a way Eisenstien is showing bits and pieces of compassion, which is stereotypically something Russians are not known for
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