“Ballard of a Soldier” by Grigory Chukhra – 1959
Grigory did some amazing things with lighting for the project titled, “Ballard of a Soldier.” For example, the close-up shots of Shura and Aleksei while they were on the train. I noticed some scene were a soft lens was used to great brilliant edges of some of the important moments in the film. You must not forget that the film seemed to not only be about Alexsei nor is it about Shura. This film is about everyone that they encounter through the entire travel. Each time the train door opens, it opens to unfamiliar townspeople and station workers. Each stop was filled with the changing times during the stages of war, for the businesses and residents. How people dressed and reacted towards one another was different as they went along. But on the other hand, the radio station repeatedly announced of how the front line hasn’t changed.
Think about it for a second, While Alexsei is traveling to his home, he is going through changes along with those he interacts with, and meanwhile everyone on the frontline is still the same. It’s important to process the moments we have in life, there are people who are in our lives for a split second and others you’ll know all your life. Make every moment worthwhile and accept the changes in life and keep in mind that changes happen to every person, place or thing.
Change is Life; Life is Change, in my opinion. In addition, I see that he is still a boy that yearns for acceptance from his mother and Shura is not out of the equation for she too was looking to be accepted.
I did notice that at the one stop after the train had been bombed suddenly he was getting called a "good for nothing", etc. and I wondered why that was. Up until then, everyone was very respectful to him as a soldier.
ReplyDeleteYea, I did notice that, I just payed no attention to that, which I probably should have since that was the first time they did disrespect him for being a soldier. Good point.
ReplyDeleteFor one thing it is the first time he really is sort of just sitting and standing around. For us as viewers this is understandable because he's psychologically shell-shocked (after just having parted with Shura, only fully realizing right after the departure that she loved him, and realizing he will probably never see her again in addition to the whole harrowing experience of the bombed train and having helped as many people off as he could), but from the perspective of the other people around him he looks like he's just a malingering buffoon who's standing in everybody's way. It definitely does strike us as ironic--because the whole reason he may not end up making it home (or as it turns out, only be there for the shortest of instances) is because of his eagerness to help others...
ReplyDeleteI like what you said about "change is life" 'life is change", because it is so true. We go through different changes in life and learn to accept them. It is a very good life message we can all relate to.
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