Ballad of a Soldier | Баллада о солдате

Chukria's Ballad of a Soldier is a clear example of how the thaw era changed the ideas imbued during Stalin's Ideal Socialism movement. Since we've already viewed a film created during the mid 30's, The Vasilyev Brothers' Chapaev, we can contrast these two eras by picking apart our two war themed movies. The first difference that we spot is the setting of each film. While Chapaev primarily takes place on the battlefield, Chukria's Ballad of a Soldier shy's away from the front lines, instead following Alyosha's trip back home. Once we begin to scrutinize our protagonists journey through an Ideal Socialist lens, we can begin to see how Alyosha’s leave would never be acceptable during Stalin’s reign. Aside from the heroic introduction, Alyosha actions are neither beneficial to the motherland nor communist in nature. We see him leaving the waning front, wasting time falling in love, and never even fixing his mother's roof; none of this could be found in Chapaev. Alyosha's actions are used to symbolize his youthful innocence, showing us Russia's movement towards personal gain over the propaganda shown through Chapaev's total commitment to serving his motherland. This, coupled with images of corrupt officers (bribing them with cans of meat), cheating bourgeoisie, and a love story based around someone who claims to be engaged, really set the tone for what the thaw era wanted to accomplish. Moving away from the grasp of Ideal Socialism, acknowledging that some things went wrong during Stalin's reign, and giving more freedom to the artists of the Russian nation.