Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

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.

lreynaert Grigori Chukhray's movie is still highly topical. It is one of the best anti-war films ever made. It reveals in a most outspoken way the human faces behind the bloodshed. It shows how war violence is not limited to the battlefield, but provokes also physical and mental havoc everywhere in the countries involved. People lose their homes, their possessions and even their country. People bleed also psychologically through broken or strained relationships and family ties. Women have to do a man's work at home. As a contrast to the satanic war machinery, Grigori Chukhray scripted a pure love encounter. But, it also didn't last very long. Ideologically, this movie is a perfect example of Marxist art: it has a positive hero, who is also a type, a representative of a particular class (a soldier, a 'Russian' soldier). 'Ballad of a Soldier' stands in sharp contrast to the actual avalanche of so-called blockbusters preaching an unacceptable and shameful gospel of violence. 'Ballad of a Soldier' in its way is also a blockbuster, but with 'big' sentiments, preaching love instead of hate, respect instead of inhumanity and family ties instead of random killings. 'Ballad of a Soldier' is a 'big' movie. A must see.

Sergeant_Tibbs Ballad of a Soldier is a story too good for Hollywood. With love and tragedy in equal measure, this film is an exploration of love between a man and a woman - platonic, romantic and maternal. Each possibility tugs hard at the heartstrings. The protagonist, a soldier called Alyosha, is very young and naive, which makes him a more relatable character than someone whose charm precedes them. From his first meeting with Shura to their last encounter, there's a charm between them that makes the audience beg for them to stay together as she accompanies him on his journey despite delaying him. Their last train rain with their loving bittersweet stare tugs at the heartstrings in a way that shows that genuine love in film is rare. While there are a few contrivances, such as the opening scene where Alyosha is chased by a tank until he gets a chance to blow it up, but the film does flow very gracefully. The drama is always excellent with believable characters and dialogue the whole way through and very subtle moral dilemmas. Our protagonist is racing against time from the very moment the film ends and it never stops which makes for always compelling viewing. It has great cinematography despite some choppy editing in places, reminiscent of an earlier Russian war film The Cranes Are Flying though perhaps not as impressive. The huge operatic score accompanies the film throughout and highlights the power of the film, though Alyosha's final embrace with his mother is music-less and arguably even more powerful than his embrace with Shura. Incredible film.9/10

Hitchcoc This is such a gentle movie. Other than the beginning when the young man becomes a hero by causing the destruction of two enemy tanks through a panicky, thoughtless circumstance. HIs reward is to go home and visit his mother and to hopefully fix her roof. He is given a few days and begins his journey. He is fighting on the front and otherwise would be cannon fodder to the enemy. As he wends his way home he encounters all the elements of war, from men ready to face their deaths, people bombed while trying to travel away from their deaths, unfaithful wives, dismemberment, and, finally, the love of his life. This works so well on so many levels. It has a subtle humor. It is sentimental and charming. Yet the war hangs over everything. Duty is duty and there is a greater cause. It is certainly a serious anti-war movie that pulls us in gradually, allows us to care about the characters, knowing that they are living under a sword. I had never heard of this film. The young woman who shares the young soldiers few moments, has a wonderfully expressive face. She is his salvation, if only for a short time.