This film showed the war through the radio more than it showed it in action. The only part of the war we see is at the very beginning where Alyosha takes out two tanks. Otherwise news of the war is only heard through the radio at every train station he receives water from. The focus of the film seemed to be more on the individuals that were waiting at home trying to go on with their lives as the war was going on. All the women listened intently for news of their husbands or sons while they worked the fields or in factories. They struggled but continued to hope they would one day see their families together once again.
There was no propaganda in this film unlike the other Socialist Realist films. It was more of a general view for anyone that went through the war or any other war. The men went off to fight on the front lines while the women were at home worrying and trying to survive. Any mother who's son went off to fight would wish to see them again and if they did they would not want them to leave. This was shown with the confrontation of Alyosha and his mother. He only got to see her and let her know that he was still alive but he had to leave to continue fighting. She didn't want to let him go for fear she would never see him again. The other mothers also questioned Alyosha about whether or not he had heard of their sons or when the war was going to end. This probably did happen because every mother would be worried about their child.
Shura and Alyosha covered another universal part: husbands and lovers. A married woman would loose her husband when war came because he would have to go fight along with the younger men. Even young lovers would loose one another. When Pavlov told Alyosha to bring his wife the soap, he had no idea that she would be with someone else. She may have believed that she would never see him again so she found someone else that would be there to take care of her. This was quite possibly something that happened often especially if the wife had not heard from her husband. Then there was poor Shura who did not have a lover or husband. She probably would not have had one either after the war. As said in class, many Russian men (about 13.71%) were killed during World War II.
2 comments:
"Then there was poor Shura who did not have a lover or husband. She probably would not have had one either after the war."
Very nice point--and this is what makes her final goodbye and sorrowful walk away from the camera at the train station so affecting. She's waving farewell to more than simply Alyosha...
I agree that the message of this movie transcends political propaganda, and I enjoyed how the war was shown from the perspective of individuals. It's important to remember that war affects people, and how it affects them, and sometimes these character portraits (or even the various vignettes, like of the wounded soldier or of the other soldier's adulterous wife and victimized father) are the only way to show the horrors of war and the evil that men do.
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