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Ballad of a Soldier

Directed by Grigori Chukhrai

The Forty-First

Directed by Grigori Chukhrai
Screening on Film
  • Ballad of a Soldier (Ballada o soldate)

    Directed by Grigori Chukhrai.
    With Vladimir Ivashov, Zhanna Prokhorenko, Antonina Maksimova.
    USSR, 1959, 35mm, black & white, 89 min.
    Russian with English subtitles.
    Print source: HFA

A Russian solider is granted leave after single-handedly defeating the Nazis in battle. As he journeys home to visit his mother, he witnesses the unimaginable devastation of the Russian landscape, yet finds inspiration in the undying optimism of his fellow countrymen. Ukrainian-born Grigori Chukhrai proved to be one of the masters of the new Soviet cinema during the Khrushchev Thaw, when censorship was far less prevalent. He generated international acclaim including an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay for this powerful reflection on the post-Stalinist era.

  • The Forty-First (Sorok Pervyi)

    Directed by Grigori Chukhrai.
    With Izolda Izvitskaya, Oleg Strizhenov, Nikolai Kryuchkov.
    USSR, 1956, 35mm, color, 88 min.
    Russian with English subtitles.
    Print source: HFA

One of the first significant films to be produced during the post-Stalinist thaw of the 1950s—a period of reform led by Khrushchev—Chukhrai's The Forty-First focuses on a love story between a revolutionary soldier and her prisoner. Winner of a special prize at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival, this remake of Yakov Protazanov's silent classic recasts the historic struggle between the Tsarists and the revolutionaries in light of the horrors of World War II.

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Rosine Mbakam, 2025 McMillan-Stewart Fellow