THE INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED CLASSIC OF RUSSIAN CINEMAThe winner of the 1961 BAFTA Award for Best Film and a nominee for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay and for the prestigious Palme d’Or at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival, BALLAD OF A SOLDIER is an engaging and deeply moving romantic drama set against the backdrop of war-torn Russia.In the midst of the Second World War, 19-year-old Russian soldier Alyosha (Vladimir Ivashov) earns himself a medal of honour for single-handedly destroying two advancing German tanks. Instead of accepting the medal, he requests a leave of absence from the front line in order to visit his mother and to mend the leaking roof of her remote rural farmhouse. With his request granted, Alyosha begins an arduous and much-delayed journey eastwards that will change not only his own life, but also the lives of those he meets along way. Among them are a one-legged soldier afraid to return home in his injured state, the adulterous wife of a comrade to whom Alyosha has agreed to deliver a gift and, most significantly, a beautiful young girl named Shura (Zhana Prokhorenko) with whom he falls in love.Through this deceptively simple tale director Grigory Chukhrai presents a fascinating and subtly critical insight into the everyday lives of ordinary Russian people struggling to survive the hardships brought about by war. Despite being made after a relaxation of Soviet state censorship applied to cinema, BALLAD OF A SOLDIER still proved to be a controversial film in its country of origin, primarily for exposing several sexual issues never before dealt with in Soviet cinema.
Boasting a powerfully emotional script and impressive performances from its lead actors, BALLAD OF A SOLDIER also features outstanding black and white cinematography that adds an undeniable strength to Chukhrai’s vision of life during wartime.
A little seen classic of Russian cinema, BALLAD OF A SOLDIER is a perfect companion piece to Mikheil Kalatozishvili’s better known but similarly themed film, The Cranes Are Flying, which is also released on DVD by Nouveaux Pictures on 29th January 2007. BALLAD OF A SOLDIER (cert. PG) will be released on DVD (£19.99) by Nouveaux Pictures on 29th January 2007. Special Features include interview with director Grigory Chukhrai, Chronicle, photo gallery, filmographies, RUSCICO trailer, English 5.1 (dubbed), Russian 5.1 with English subtitles and chapter selection. Ballad of a Soilder