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Alexander Nevsky (1938)

Genre : Epic, Historical, War, Drama.
Language : Russian
Country : Soviet Union (USSR)
Cast : Nikolai Cherkasov, Nikolai Okhlopkov, Andrei Abrikosov.
Directed by : Sergei Eisenstein
Run Time : 112 min
Release Date : 1st December, 1938

Synopsis :
“Alexander Nevsky” (Russian: Александр Невский) is a 1938 historical epic drama film directed by Russian master Sergei Eisenstein, made at a time when tensions between the Soviet Union and Germany were high, the film has heavy political overtones and propagandas. ‘Alexander Nevsky’ was the most popular of Eisenstein's three sound films. In 1941 Eisenstein, Pavlenko, Cherkasov and Abrikosov were awarded the Stalin Prize for the film.

This film depicts the attempted invasion of Novgorod in the 13th century by the Teutonic Knights of the Holy Roman Empire and their defeat by the Russian people, led by Prince Alexander, known popularly as ‘Alexander Nevsky’.

Plot :
The film opens in a rural setting, with Prince Alexander toiling away in an implausible fashion among the fishermen. "Hack their ships we did nigh to smithereens", they sing, referring to the teenage Alexander's earlier triumph over a Swedish invasion at the River Neva (which lent him the commemorative surname ‘Nevsky’). A Mongol emissary from the Golden Horde appears and offers Alexander a job as commander in his army, but he refuses.

Back in Novgorod, news arrives of the crusading Teutonic knights' capture of nearby city of Pskov with the help of the traitor Tverdilo and brutal massacre of the population (including a scene in which the knights casually drop children into a fire), which adds fuel to Nevsky’s cause.

Prince Alexander is sent for to lead the troops because he’s well known for his bravery and intelligence and for his ability to rally the people. He devises a plan to lure the knights into a fight on the ice, reasoning that their heavy armour will eventually lead them to catastrophe.

In the face of resistance by the boyars and merchants of Novgorod (urged on by the monk Ananias), Nevsky rallies the common people of Novgorod in a decisive Battle of the Ice, on the surface of the frozen Lake Chudskoe on 5th April, 1242.

Running parallel to Nevsky’s story is a subplot involving two soldiers, Vasili Buslai and Gavrilo Oleksich, two famous warriors from Novgorod and friends, who have used the war as the pretence for a wager. Whichever shows the most courage and skill during the Battle on the Ice will win the right to marry Olga Danilovna, a Novgorod maiden whom both of them are courting. After both of them have been seriously wounded, Buslai publicly states that neither he nor Gavrilo was the bravest in battle: that honor goes to Vasilisa, the daughter of a boyar of Pskov killed by the Germans who had joined the Novgorod forces as a front-line soldier; and that after her came Gavrilo. Thus Gavrilo and Olga are united, while Buslai chooses Vasilisa as his bride-to-be (with her unspoken consent)!

“Eisenstein doesn’t get terrifically experimental with this film – it’s pretty straight forward narratively, though there is a lot of visual symbolism. It can be a difficult story to engage with at times because the characters are so thin, but I can see how it would have worked as a rallying piece at the time it was made and especially at the time of its re-release in 1941. The Battle on the Ice is the film’s big set piece and is one of the best and most memorable large scale hand-to-hand combat sequences I’ve ever seen. The story can be a bit plodding as it wades through layers of political commentary, but this battle sequence makes the film worth watching!“

Cast :
■ Prince Aleksandr Nevsky (Nikolai Cherkasov)
■ Vasili Buslaev (Nikolai Okhlopkov)
■ Gavrilo Oleksich (Andrei Abrikosov)
■ Ignat, the Master Armourer (Dmitri Orlov)
■ Pavsha, a Voivode of Pskov (Vasili Novikov)
■ Domash Tverdislavich, a Novgorod Boyar (Nikolai Arsky)
■ Amelfa Timoferevna, Buslay's Mother (Varvara Massalitinova)
■ Olga Danilovna, a Maid of Novgorod (Vera Ivashova)
■ Vasilisa, a Maid of Pskov (Aleksandra Danilova)
■ Hermann Von Balk, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order (Vladimir Yershov)
■ Tverdilo, the Traitor of Pskov (Sergei Blinnikov)
■ Anani, a Monk (Ivan Lagutin)
■ The Archbishop (Lev Fenin)
■ The Black-Hooded Monk (Naum Rogozhin)

Awards :
1. In 1941, Eisenstein, Pavlenko, Cherkasov and Abrikosov were awarded the Stalin Prize for this film.
2. In 1939, it was nominated for the Best Foreign Film in the National Board of Review.

Ratings : IMDB.com = 7.8/10; AllMovie.com = 4.5/5
[Source : Wikipedia, IMDB, AllMovie, Criterion, RussiaBlog]

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The Classic (2003)

Genre : Romance, Comedy, Tragedy, Melodrama, War Drama.
Language : Korean
Country : South Korea
Cast : Son Ye-Jin, Cho Seung-Woo, Jo In-Sung, Lee Ki-Woo.
Directed by : Kwak Jae-Yong
Run Time : 127 min
Release Date : 30th January, 2003

Synopsis :

“The Classic” (Korean: Keulraesik) is a 2003 classic Korean romantic melodrama film starring Son Ye-Jin, Cho Seung-Woo and Jo In-Seong. "The Classic" is director Kwak Jae-Yong's long-awaited follow-up to his 2001 smash hit "My Sassy Girl”.

This film shows the parallel love stories of a mother and daughter, bridging two different time periods. The story of the mother is told partially in flashbacks. It will be justified to say that “The Classic” is an important milestone in the history of Korean romantic melodramas!

Plot :

The film begins in the present day, where the daughter, Ji-Hye (Son Ye-Jin), is cleaning-up around her house when she comes across a box containing an old diary and some love letters belonging to her mother, Joo-Hee (also played by Son Ye-Jin). Periodically in the film, Ji-Hye reads one of these letters, which starts a flashback scene which begins narrating the 1960’s story about the love triangle that formed between Ji-Hye's mother Joo-Hee, her future father Tae-Soo (Lee Ki-Woo), and Tae-Soo's best friend Joon-Ha (Cho Seung-Woo). Though Joo-Hee fell in love with Joon-Ha after a chance meeting in the countryside, she was already engaged to Tae-Soo in an arranged marriage!

Meanwhile, in the present, Ji-Hye has some romantic entanglements of her own to work out. She is in love with Sang-Min (Jo In-Seong), the boyfriend of her narcissistic best friend Soo-Kyeong (Lee Sang-In) and a senior in the theatre club, yet finds herself unable to express her true feelings. On the other side, Soo-Kyeong asks Ji-Hye to do her a favor – write a love letter to Sang-Min. Ji-Hye pours out her own feelings for him on paper, but sadly in her friend’s name. Touched by the letter, Sang-Min is attracted to Soo-Kyeong, and Ji-Hye. Feeling uncomfortable and even guilty, Ji-Hye tries to avoid him. And yet by coincidence or by fate she keeps running into him. Bouncing back and forth, the film draws parallels between the heartbreak, lessons learned, and travails of mother and daughter, whose destinies are inextricably intertwined!

Flashback to the summer of 1968...The mother, Joo-Hee visits the countryside as a student during her summer vacation and meets Joon-Ha. Together they explore the countryside, playing near a small river bridge with the fireflies. When a storm starts they take shelter together under a tree, but not before Joo-Hee twists her ankle and is rendered helpless. Joon-Ha carries her on his back and they struggle home, only to be confronted by her angry parents. Before they separate, Joo-Hee gives him a necklace, which he keeps close as a precious reminder of their time together.

Having parted with Joo-Hee without a word of farewell, Joon-Ha spends the rest of the summer heavy-hearted! With summer vacation being over Joon-Ha also returns to Seoul. At school, his classmate Tae-Soo asks him to write a love letter to send to a girl. And who would it be but Joo-Hee, Joon-Ha’s dream girl. Unable to confess his own summer love story, Joon-Ha reluctantly complies with his friend’s request!

Unfortunately, as often happens in affairs of the heart, a third party prevents any deepening of their relationship. Joo-Hee has been promised by her parents as a bride to Tae-Soo, Joon-Ha's best friend. But Tae-Soo, a noble friend, finds out about Joo-Hee and Joon-Ha's attraction for each other and helps the two communicate secretly by letting them use his own name in place of Joon-Ha's in their letters. When Tae-Soo's father finds this out, however, he beats Tae-Soo. Tae-Soo tries unsuccessfully to commit suicide so that his two friends can be together!






Meanwhile, in the present, Ji-Hye falls for Sang-Min in whom her friend Soo-Kyeong is also very interested, but he seems not to notice. Then, in a sweet scene, they take shelter from the rain together under the same tree. He uses his coat to cover both of them and escorts her to where she needs to go. The moment, while magical, does not go anywhere as she feels his help was only due to his generous nature and not from any feelings for her on his part.

Back in the past, Joon-Ha is guilt-ridden over his friend's attempted suicide and Joo-Hee's own guilt. Determined to prevent any more hurt to her, Joon-Ha joins the army and goes to Vietnam. There he loses his eyesight while he tries to retrieve the necklace Joo-Hee had given him. When he returns to Korea, he meets again with Joo-Hee, and, trying to hide his blindness, convinces her that he has married in the hope she will move on with her life. Though heartbroken that their relationship cannot continue, she does move on and eventually marries Tae-Soo. After they have been married for several years and have a young daughter (Ji-Hye), Joo-Hee is approached by friends of Joon-Ha, who relate Joon-Ha's last wish – ‘that his ashes be scattered by Joo-Hee in the river, now a reservoir, where they first met!’ She then finds out that Joon-Ha hadn't married, but he later did after she married Tae-Soo! She was told that he had a son also. The heart-break is too much and she cries.

In the present, Ji-Hye's own story unfolds. Sang-Min reveals his true feelings for Ji-Hye - feelings that mirror her own! It is also revealed that their taking shelter together during the storm was no accident – he had purposely left his umbrella behind in a shop so that he could join her under the tree. Then, when Ji-Hye pensively reveals her mother's story to him, tears stream down his face. Silently he lifts a necklace from around his neck and places it around hers. It is the necklace that Ji-Hye's mother, Joo-Hee, had given to Joon-Ha when they met. The circle is completed – Joo-Hee's daughter and Joon-Ha's son have fallen in love!

In other words, the eternal love between Joo-Hee and Joon-Ha has finally got its destination across the divisions of time – in the shape of the love between Ji-Hye and Sang-Min! ...The younger generation has accomplished the aspirations in their lives what their parents could not!

Cast :

■ Ji-Hye / Joo-Hee, Mother of Ji-Hye (Son Ye-Jin)

■ Joon-Ha, Father of Ji-Hye (Cho Seung-Woo)

■ Sang-Min (Jo In-Seong)

■ Tae-Soo, Friend of Joon-Ha (Lee Ki-Woo)

■ Soo-Kyeong, Friend of Ji-Hye (Lee Sang-In)

■ Na-Hee, Friend of Joo-Hee (Seo Yeong-Hee)

■ Shopkeeper (Im Ye-Jin)

Awards :

1. It won the 40th Dae Jong Sang Award for the Best New Actress - Son Ye-Jin in 2003.
2. It won the 39th Baek Sang Arts Award for the Best New Actress - Son Ye-Jin in 2003.
3. It won the 24th Blue Dragon Film Award for the Most Favourite/ Popular Star - Son Ye-Jin in 2003.
4. It won the 9th Moscow International Love Movie Award for the Best Couple in 2004.
5. It was nominated at the 2004 Hong Kong Film Awards for the Best Asian Film.

Ratings : IMDB.com = 7.7/10;  HanCinema.net = 9.1/10; KYHB.com = 9/10

[Source : Wikipedia, IMDB, HanCinema, KMDb, KoreanMovie, MediaCircus]

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Mongol (2007)

Genre : Historical Epic, Biography, War Drama, Romance.
Language : Mongolian, Mandarin.
Country : Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Germany.
Cast : Tadanobu Asano, Sun Hong-Lei, Khulan Chuluun, Odnyam Odsuren.
Directed by : Sergei Bodrov
Run Time : 126 min
Release Date : 20th September, 2007

Synopsis :
“Mongol” is a semi-historical epic film based on the early life of Temüjin, the young Genghis Khan and the events which led him to become a legendary conqueror. Contradicting the Western (and Russian) image of Genghis Khan as the monstrous and cruel conqueror, Bodrov's work is influenced by Lev Gumilev's "The Legend of the Black Arrow" and is based on "The Secret History of the Mongols", the 13th century Mongolian account, unknown until its re-emergence in China 700 years later. Shooting took place, for the most part, in the People's Republic of China, mainly Inner Mongolia, and in Kazakhstan.

‘Mongol’ illuminates the life and legend of Genghis Khan. It shows the dramatic and harrowing early years of the ruler who was born as Temüjin in 1162. As it follows Temüjin from his perilous childhood to the battle that sealed his destiny, the film paints a multi-dimensional portrait of the future conqueror, revealing him not as the evil brute of hoary stereotype, but as an inspiring, fearless and visionary leader. ‘Mongol’ shows us the making of an extraordinary man, and the foundation on which so much of his greatness rested - his unique relationship with his wife, Borte, his lifelong love and most trusted advisor!

Plot :
The movie quotes an old Mongolian proverb - "Do not scorn a weak cub; He may become a brutal tiger!” The film opens with Temüjin (Tadanobu Asano) as a prisoner in the Tangut Kingdom, and narrates his earlier life through flashbacks. Nine-year-old young Temüjin (Odnyam Odsuren) is travelling with his father, Esugei (Ba Sen), a tribal chieftain (Khan), to select a girl as his bride. On the way, he meets young Börte (Bayertsetseg Erdenebat), the daughter of his father’s friend, who says she would like to be chosen and asserts she would make an excellent wife. While his father wishes him to choose a wife from the ‘Merkit’ tribe, Temüjin convinces his father to allow him to choose Börte. He promises to return after five years to marry her.

On their way home, Temüjin's father is poisoned by an enemy tribe. As he lies dying, he tells Temüjin he is now the new khan. However one of his father's warriors, Targutai, orders the other tribesmen to loot the dead khan's camp, taking the horses and livestock. Targutai spares Temüjin's life, declaring “a Mongol does not kill children!”

After falling through the ice on a frozen lake, Temüjin is found lying down in the snow by a young boy, Jamukha (Amarbold Tuvshinbayar). The two quickly become friends and perform a traditional ceremony declaring themselves ‘blood brothers’. Targutai, however, catches up with Temüjin and he is captured and locked in a cangue. Temüjin escapes late one night and continues to roam in the countryside.

We do not see Temüjin again until 1186 where he is a young man. He once again is caught by Targutai, who wishes to kill him now as he is grown up. Temüjin escapes again, this time taking one of the tribe's horses. He goes to find Börte (Khulan Chuluun) and brings her back to his family. Later that night they are attacked by the ‘Merkit’ tribe led by Chiledu to take revenge, because Temüjin's father had years before stolen his wife from one of their tribesmen. While being chased on horseback, Temüjin is shot with an arrow. Börte whips Temüjin’s horse, telling it to go home. Börte is captured and told by the Merkit leader that she is now his. Temüjin returns to his family weakened but determined to get his wife back.

Temüjin goes to his childhood friend, Jamukha (Sun Hong-Lei) who is now a khan himself. Jamukha agrees to help him attack the Merkit tribe and get his wife back, though only after a year passes. The attack on the Merkit tribe is a success, and Temüjin finds Börte alive and Chiledu dead with his throat slit. However, just as he feared, Bortë has been raped and left pregnant with Chiledu's son, whom Temüjin accepts as his own. Against Jamukha’s wish to stay, Temüjin and his men leave early the next morning, and two of Jamukha's soldiers also joined Temüjin because he takes better care of his warriors than Jamukha. Jamukha chases down Temüjin, but Temüjin refuses to send back Jamukha's warriors because a Mongol warrior is free to choose his lord, and Jamukha's warriors chose Temüjin. Jamukha warns him that his actions will lead to war.

Taichar, Jamukha's brother, is later killed while attempting to steal Temüjin's horses and this brings Jamukha and Temüjin go to war. When their armies face off, Temüjin sends some of his men to protect the families, while those remaining continue to fight. Being outnumbered, the army is quickly over-run. Jamukha decides to make Temüjin a slave rather than kill him.

Temüjin is sold to a rich garrison chief (Zhang Jiong) of the Tangut kingdom despite the dire warning given by a Buddhist monk (Ben Hon Sun) acting as his advisor. While imprisoned, the monk pleads Temüjin to forgive his monastery when he is free, and Temujin agrees in exchange for delivering a wish bone to Borte indicating he is still alive. The determined old monk finally manages to deliver his message to Börte. To get to Tangut, the faithful Börte becomes a merchant's concubine, bearing a daughter along the way. Once Börte arrives in Tangut, she abandons the merchant and pays the guard for the key to Temüjin's cage.

After his escape from Tangut, Temüjin gathers an army to unite all Mongol tribes and made some basic rules to live by. By using special war tactics, Temüjin defeats Jamukha to unite all the tribes. He then lets Jamukha leave alive. With the united army of Mongols, Temüjin wiped out the Tangut kingdom from the face of the Earth but the monastery survived. After his victory, Temüjin is named the ‘Khan of all Mongols - Genghis Khan’!

Reviews :
■ Peter Rainer of Christian Science Monitor states that “Mongol is a throwback to a more respectable tradition. The largeness of its scope arises naturally from the material, not the budget. The movie earns its stature.”
■ A O Scott of The New York Times describes Mongol as "a big, ponderous epic, its beautifully composed landscape shots punctuated by thundering hooves and bloody, slow-motion battle sequences."
■ Joe Neumaier of New York Daily News praised the performance of Chinese actor Sun Hong-Lie as - "Sun Hong-Lei, who, as Jamukha, gives so many neck-cracks, guttural howls and conspiratorial smiles he's like a Chinese Marlon Brando."
■ The Globe and Mail states - "As an epic action movie, Mongol is satisfying enough. Think Brave Heart. Think 300. Just don't think too much."

Cast :
■ Temüjin / Genghis Khan (Tadanobu Asano)
■ Jamukha (Sun Hong-Lei)
■ Börte - Temüjin's Wife (Khulan Chuluun)
■ Monk (Ben Hon Sun)
■ Esugei - Temüjin's Father (Ba Sen)
■ Oelun - Temüjin's Mother (Aliya)
■ Chiledu - Oelun’s First Husband (Sai Xing Ga)
■ Targutai (Amadu Mamadakov)
■ Taichar - Jamukha's Brother (Ba Ren)
■ Young Temüjin (Odnyam Odsuren)
■ Young Borte (Bayertsetseg Erdenebat)
■ Young Jamukha (Amarbold Tuvshinbayar)
■ Tangut Garrison Chief (Zhang Jiong)

Awards :
1. It won the 2007 Golden Eagle Awards for Best Costume and Best Sound Design.
2. It won the 2007 Nika Awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematographer, Best Production Designer, Best Costume Designer, and Best Sound.
3. It won the 2007 Asian Film Award for Best Supporting Actor - Sun Hong-Lei.
4. It won the 2008 Houston Film Critics Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
5. It won the 2008 Las Vegas Film Critics Association Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
6. It was nominated for the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (from Kazakhstan).
7. It was nominated for the 2007 Asia Pacific Screen Awards for Achievement in Cinematography.
8. It was nominated for the 2008 Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Ratings : IMDB.com = 7.4/10; AllMovie.com = 4/5; MetaCritic.com = 7.4/10; RottenTomatoes.com = 7.1/10
[Source : Wikipedia, IMDB, AllMovie, RottenTomatoes, MetaCritic]

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Ballad Of A Soldier (1959)

Genre : War Drama, Romance.
Language : Russian
Country : Soviet Union (USSR)
Cast : Vladimir Ivashov, Zhanna Prokhorenko.
Directed by : Grigori Chukhrai
Run Time : 88 min
Release Date : 1st December, 1959

Synopsis :
“Ballad of a Soldier” (Russian: Ballada O Soldate) is an apolitical Soviet film depicting the humanitarian impulses of its characters to their nature rather than to an adherence to state ideologies. The plot of the film is set during World War II and shows how the Red Army soldier Alyosha tries to make it home during a leave, meeting several people on his way and falling in love with Shura.

Ballad of a Soldier is not primarily a war film. It recounts, within the context of the turmoil of war, various kinds of love - the romantic love of a young couple, the committed love of a married couple, and a mother's love of her child!

Plot :
The film tells the story of a young and naive Russian soldier Alexei Nikolaevich Skvortsov aka ‘Alyosha’ (Vladimir Ivashov) and his journey to home in the midst of World War II. The story starts with the chase of a scared signalman Pvt. Alyosha (19) by two German tanks. In the attempt of self-preservation, Alyosha single-handedly manages to destroy the German tanks and earns a commendation for his bravery. Instead of accepting a medal, he requests the General to grant him a 4-day leave to go home. The kind General awarded him a 6-day leave pass to visit his mother and repair the leaking roof of his village house!

During his journey to home, he encounters the devastation the war has brought on his war-torn country and meets numerous people and uses up much of his valuable leave time through his efforts to help others! The first person he met was a soldier Pvt. Pavlov, who asked Alyosha to meet his wife in route to home and give her two pieces of soap as a gift. At the railway station, Alyosha helps and encourages a veteran soldier Vasya (Yevgeni Urbansky) who, having lost a leg in the war, is afraid to return to his wife, fearing she might reject him!

At the changing station, Alyosha met a venal train guard Gavrilkin (Aleksandr Kuznetsov) willing to grant him free passage in a freight car of a military supply train in exchange for some cans of beef. Riding in the train, he met a young and beautiful girl Shura (Zhanna Prokhorenko) and falls in love with her. The scared girl made innocent Alyosha to believe that she’s on her way to visit her fiancé. So, he tried to help her in any way to reach her destination. On the way, Alyosha met Pavlov’s wife (V. Markova) and found that she has betrayed her husband by marrying other man. He took back the soaps from her, and gives it to old and sick Pavlov’s father (Vladimir Pokrovsky) in the hospital, who longs for his son’s return.

After wasting his most of the leave time in helping others, Alyosha finally manages to arrive home too late. He only has enough time to hug his mother and immediately start on his journey back to his unit, before his 6-day leave expires. He finds his way back to the front but, as told via voiceover, he never returns from the war! At the end, the voiceover narrator says, “He would have been a fine man.... but we remember him just as a soldier - a Russian Soldier!” - emphasizing not his political ideology but his national identity!

Cast :
■ Private Alyosha Skvortsov (Vladimir Ivashov)
■ Shura (Zhanna Prokhorenko)
■ Alyosha’s Mother (Antonina Maksimova)
■ The General (Nikolai Kryuchkov)
■ Vasya (Yevgeni Urbansky)
■ Vasya's Wife (Elza Lezhdey)
■ Gavrilkin -The Train Sentry (Aleksandr Kuznetsov)
■ Zoya (Marina Kremnyova)
■ Liza - Pavlov’s Wife (V. Markova)
■ Old man in Hospital - Pavlov’s Father (Vladimir Pokrovsky)

Awards :
1. It won the Special Jury Prize at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival.
2. It won the Golden Wolf Award for Best Film at the 1960 Bucharest Film Festival.
3. It won the Golden Gate Award for Best Film and Best Director at the 5th San Francisco International Film Festival, 1960.
4. It won the 1960 Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Participation.
5. It won the 1961 BAFTA Award for Best Film - Any Source.
6. It won the Bodil Awards for Best European Film, 1961.
7. It was nominated for the 1961 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
8. It was nominated for the 1960 Hollywood Foreign Press Association Award for Best Foreign Film.

Ratings : IMDB.com = 8.1/10; AllMovie.com = 4/5.
[Source : Wikipedia, IMDB, AllMovie, Criterion]

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The Cranes Are Flying (1957)

Genre : Romance, War Drama.
Language : Russian
Country : Soviet Union (USSR)
Cast : Tatyana Samojlova, Aleksey Batalov, Vasili Merkuryev.
Directed by : Mikhail Kalatozov
Run Time : 97 min.
Release Date : 1957

Synopsis :
‘The Cranes Are Flying’ (Russian: Letyat Zhuravli) is a Soviet film about the horrors and consequences of World War II. It depicts the cruelty of war and the damage suffered by the people of Soviet Union.

The film is based on a Soviet family of Fyodor Ivanovich, a doctor and who lives with his son, Boris, and daughter, Irina. His mother and nephew Mark also live with them. The film centres on Boris's girlfriend, Veronika, and her experiences during wartime. She is nicknamed ‘Belka’ (‘Squirrel’).

World War II breaks out, and Soviet people come forward to volunteer in the war with great patriotic fervour. Boris also volunteers to defend his motherland from the enemies, much to Veronika's sadness. He leaves for the war, and is killed, saving a fellow soldier. However, he is listed as missing in action and neither Veronika nor his family know that he has been killed.

The German blitzkrieg then begins, and the family is terrorized by nights of bombing; they take refuge in the subway system underneath the city. During one attack, Veronika lost her parents in their bombarded apartment, and Fyodor Ivanovich invites Veronika to live with his family. Mark, who has been pursuing Veronika from a long time, is put in charge of taking care of Veronika. He is obviously in love with her, but she continually rejects him because she is waiting for Boris to return. However, during one bombing raid, Veronika refuses to go down to the shelter and is raped by Mark. Ashamed Veronika reluctantly agrees to marry Mark, and the rest of the family believes that she has betrayed Boris.

The family is relocated with many other Russians to Siberia in order to escape the German offensive. They live in a temporary community where Fyodor Ivanovich, Irina, and Veronika work in a military hospital. Mark and Veronika are both unhappy in their marriage. When a soldier in the hospital becomes hysterical due to his girl friend’s betrayal, Fyodor implicitly denounces Veronika while cheering him. She become upset and tries to do suicide, but fails. Shortly after that, Fyodor finds out that Mark bribed an official in Fyodor’s name to get exemption. Fyodor suddenly realizes that Mark has not only betrayed Russia, but he has betrayed the whole family and has taken advantage of Veronika. He confronts Mark and kicks him out of the house, while Veronika is allowed to stay and is forgiven by the family for "betraying" Boris.

The soldier who was saved by Boris, comes in search of Boris's family to tell them the news. When Veronika finds out, she refuses to believe it, saying that Boris's friend Stepan will know what happened to him. When the soldiers come back at a victory parade Veronika meets Stepan and she finds out that Boris is indeed dead. Boris's friend Stepan makes a speech during the parade asserting that they will never forget those who died in the war, but peace must be maintained.

Cast :
■ Veronika (Tatyana Samojlova)
■ Boris (Aleksey Batalov)
■ Fyodor Ivanovich (Vasili Merkuryev)
■ Mark (Aleksandr Shvorin )
■ Irina (Svetlana Kharitonova)
■ Volodya (Konstantin Nikitin)
■ Stepan (Valentin Zubkov)
■ Grandmother (Antonina Bogdanova)
■ Tyernov (Boris Kokovkin)
■ Anna Mikhajlovna (Yekaterina Kupriyanova)

Awards :

1. It won the ‘Palme d'Or Award’ at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the second of two Soviet films to win the award. Tatyana Samojlova received Special Mention for this film.
2. It was nominated for ‘Best Film - Any Source’ at the 1958 BAFTA Awards.

Ratings : IMDB.com = 8.0/10; AllMovie.com = 4.5/5
[Source : Wikipedia, IMDB, AllMovie, Vobzor]

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