ethics
02-13-2005, 02:36 PM
Prompted by this thread (http://www.globalaffairs.org/forum/showthread.php?t=31852), I thought some would get a good peek in to the Russian WWII side, and there are three more movies that are absolutely must see.
1. Father of a Soldier (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00006LPEN/qid=1108319356/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-8542646-5296169?v=glance&s=dvd) is about a Georgian man, who receives a letter that his son was wounded in battle and taken to a hospital. Georgi leaves his village to visit his son but before he arrives to the hospital his son was sent back to the front, Berlin no less. The remarkable thing about this movie is that it was made in the sixties but the movie is just incredible. No special effects, none of that eye candy, just a a great peek in the Soviet front. Amazon's review states, This beautifully filmed and acted Soviet classic in the tradition of "The Cranes Are Flying" remains a pioneering work of cinematic art.
2. Destiny of a Man (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00008H2I1/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/102-8542646-5296169?v=glance&s=dvd)is an amazing film. A hymn to the human spirit, this screen adaptation from the novel by Nobel Prize winner Mikhail Sholokhov. After losing his wife and children during the war with fascist Germany and surviving the horrors of a concentration camp, Andrei Sokolov (played by the film's honored director, War and Peace's Sergei Bondarchuk) marches with the Soviet Army towards Berlin and finds a new destiny with a young orphaned boy. Winner of the Grand Prize at the 1959 Moscow IFF and Special Diploma at the 1970 Karlovy Vary IFF. A must see movie. All of the people I've recommended this to were awed.
3. Ballad of a Soldier (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000633SB/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/102-8542646-5296169?v=glance&s=dvd)this one is very simple but very powerful. Grigory Chukhraj's poetic odyssey of an accidental hero on a six-day pass is a sentimental journey through the ideals of the Soviet state in World War II.
Vladimir Ivashov is the fresh-faced signalman whose trip from the Russian front to visit his white-haired mother becomes a series of detours as he stops to help the loyal comrades, fellow soldiers, and salt-of-the-earth civilians (as well as a few shirkers and scoundrels) he meets along the way. On a transport train he even falls in love with a pretty young stowaway, a feisty blond girl-next-door on her way to visit a wounded boyfriend. Delicately photographed and gently paced, this deliriously romantic road movie is undeniably Soviet in its celebration of patriotism and collectivism, but Chukhraj transcends politics with delightfully vivid characters and a deft mix of comedy, melodrama, and romance. --Sean Axmaker
1. Father of a Soldier (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00006LPEN/qid=1108319356/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-8542646-5296169?v=glance&s=dvd) is about a Georgian man, who receives a letter that his son was wounded in battle and taken to a hospital. Georgi leaves his village to visit his son but before he arrives to the hospital his son was sent back to the front, Berlin no less. The remarkable thing about this movie is that it was made in the sixties but the movie is just incredible. No special effects, none of that eye candy, just a a great peek in the Soviet front. Amazon's review states, This beautifully filmed and acted Soviet classic in the tradition of "The Cranes Are Flying" remains a pioneering work of cinematic art.
2. Destiny of a Man (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00008H2I1/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/102-8542646-5296169?v=glance&s=dvd)is an amazing film. A hymn to the human spirit, this screen adaptation from the novel by Nobel Prize winner Mikhail Sholokhov. After losing his wife and children during the war with fascist Germany and surviving the horrors of a concentration camp, Andrei Sokolov (played by the film's honored director, War and Peace's Sergei Bondarchuk) marches with the Soviet Army towards Berlin and finds a new destiny with a young orphaned boy. Winner of the Grand Prize at the 1959 Moscow IFF and Special Diploma at the 1970 Karlovy Vary IFF. A must see movie. All of the people I've recommended this to were awed.
3. Ballad of a Soldier (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000633SB/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/102-8542646-5296169?v=glance&s=dvd)this one is very simple but very powerful. Grigory Chukhraj's poetic odyssey of an accidental hero on a six-day pass is a sentimental journey through the ideals of the Soviet state in World War II.
Vladimir Ivashov is the fresh-faced signalman whose trip from the Russian front to visit his white-haired mother becomes a series of detours as he stops to help the loyal comrades, fellow soldiers, and salt-of-the-earth civilians (as well as a few shirkers and scoundrels) he meets along the way. On a transport train he even falls in love with a pretty young stowaway, a feisty blond girl-next-door on her way to visit a wounded boyfriend. Delicately photographed and gently paced, this deliriously romantic road movie is undeniably Soviet in its celebration of patriotism and collectivism, but Chukhraj transcends politics with delightfully vivid characters and a deft mix of comedy, melodrama, and romance. --Sean Axmaker