Redwarmin This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

HottWwjdIam There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Klaire Howell War is Tragic, thousands experience it, maybe even the whole world; but this isn't what Grigori Chukrai wanted to show. He made the film an inmate experience, with slow moments, suspension, and room for intellectual thought all through the personal individual experience of Alyosha. Alyosha was young solider, from the country-side who managed to take down two enemy tanks. As his reward instead of a medal he received leave to visit his mother and fix her leaky roof. We begin the film with this scene and the knowledge that Alyosha would be leaving on his last leave, for he would die in the war. From his realistic heroism, his simple desire to see his mother again, and his death we know we are following the last days of a journey chalk full with all the experiences of young life and love. When we hear of war on the TV or a friend who knows someone who has died in a war we don't think of that individual life that was lost, but rather about the death toll or big picture. Ballad of a solider takes you away from all of that to see the faces that make up the military force. In this case the lives that Russia lost were so much like Alyosha young and kind, not a killing machine.

Sal Marandino I thought Ballad of a Soldier was definitely a must watch for a wide ranger of viewers. It offers a broad spectrum of genres including romance, historical, and war. I want to say, however, that when I say historical, you will not learn about the Second World War from this film. Instead, you learn of a different perspective on how the war affected different nations and cultures at the time. As an American studying American History for almost my entire life, it was interesting to see a vague intro to how the citizens of the Soviet Union reacted to the devastation caused by the war. Also, the ending really showed the viewer how important it was for soldiers during the war to see their parents, even if that means they only get to see them for a few minutes. Overall, I felt that Ballad of a Soldier is a must see for any cultural film fan.

arif-ashraf-opu Everyone should wish it his or her last film in life before taking the last breath as it's enough to awaken the greatest realization in life that we are riding in a train like the soldier with a destination. On the way we make love and on the same way we lose him or her, because this "temporal world" is the place for all sort "transient relationship". We are running after so many valuable stuffs like catching soap bubble in the staircase like heroine. Time to time the film will put you reality and also in romantic fantasy. It's a phenomenal experience. "Thirst" for love will keep you waiting and admitting that you are in love without saying a single word. Trust me! In you life you'll also realize that some people are not worth of any gift like the soldier depicted here. On the other and, some people worth more than you are going to sacrifice for them, which was depicted through the one legged soldier. In some part of your life, you are just a "hero", who has transcended everyone and everything. But, in the next place, you'll find yourself as asshole, because this is how life works out and, you and me no exception of it as we are under the normal distribution at the end of the day.

kril10 Chukhrai's Ballad of a Soldier is a great example of several important values of Soviet film of the "Thaw" era. Films of this time are known for a movement away from Stalinist ideological monumentalism and towards individual self-expression via the protagonist's struggle (and often failure) to find coherence. A common theme of Thaw films, especially those about World War II like the Ballad or Kalatozov's The Cranes are Flying was the lack of communication between soldiers leaving for the front and the people who they loved who stayed behind. So important was this theme that in these films, the actual war, in the sense of guns and shells, took backstage. Very few combat scenes were shot—the fighting was always implicit, but not central, in the overall plot. Ballad of a Soldier follows many of these ideas. For example, the only real combat scene in the entire film is at the very beginning, when Alyosha takes out two German tanks. For the rest of the film, everybody he meets on his journey to visit his mother inquires about the war, or complains about it, or is among other evidence of war, like destroyed buildings and news flashes of events on the front. In addition, despite bringing peace to certain individuals, and revealing the evil in the actions of others during his journey, Alyosha never truly finds this peace himself. Despite bringing couples back together or chastising an unfaithful woman, he never got to proclaim his feelings for Shura before he left her, and even the visit to his mother itself was unsatisfying. He never got to finish his dealings before he was killed in the war. He never got a chance to communicate.Furthermore, in terms of form, the Ballad is representative of the loosening of the conditions on montage after Stalin. One sees interesting camera views (like the experimental ones of the 1920s) again, like the upside-down camera when the tanks are chasing Alyosha, or the recurring shots of the moving backgrounds when Alyosha and Shura are on the train. Like The Cranes are Flying, this was another very enjoyable "separation" film of the Thaw.