The film tells the story of a young soldier who was allowed to return home to visit his mother because of his outstanding performance on the battlefield. Due to the period of the Great Patriotic War, his family leave was very short. Here, the entanglement of the story began to build: How did he go home in such a short time and spend this happy and short time with his mother?
As the plot unfolds, the soldier encounters a series of people and things on the way home: first met a disabled soldier at the train station, then met a beautiful girl on the train, and finally met on another train. To a refugee from Ukraine. This part is the development of the film. Through the encounters of young soldiers, it reflects certain aspects of Soviet society at that time and also shaped the moving image of soldier Alyosha.
In the climax of the film, Alyosha and his mother meet in the field. Due to the long delay on the road, he can only get together with his mother for a while before he must rush to the battlefield immediately. In the climax, the entanglement of the film is resolved: he finally reunited with his mother after hardships. Through an almost perfect audiovisual passage, the climax part is handled beautifully (both the climax of the storyline and the climax of the film's audiovisual), and the director always controls the rhythm of the story and the emotions of the audience.
The film is roughly divided into 5 plot paragraphs: 1. Alyosha is allowed to go home; 2. Disabled soldier; 3. Love paragraph; 4. Relief of refugees; 5. Mother and child get together. "Alyosha is allowed to go home" is the entangled part of the film; "Handicapped Soldier", "Love Section", and "Rescue Refugees" are the developmental parts of the film; "Mother and Child Gathering" is the climax of the film. "Love paragraph" is the main body of the development part. The function of the development part of the film roughly has three aspects: 1. Unfolding the storyline; 2. Shaping the image of the characters; 3. Improving the audience's emotions. Plot paragraphs often play a role in three aspects at the same time.
"Time" is one of the key points of this film. The film always shows that the protagonist is in a hurry. Because Alyosha's vacation is limited, he must go home within the specified time and then return to the army. "Time" is the sword of "Damocris" in the film. It always hangs above the protagonist's head, forcing him to move from one scene to another, forming a huge dramatic conflict. "Time" is one of several "great conflicts" in the film. In the recently released American film "2012", "time" is also one of the "major conflicts": disaster is about to come, and mankind has only a few days left; in such a short period of time, the protagonist is exhausted and faces obstacles one after another. And conflict. A large part of these obstacles and conflicts are the result of "time".
The "time" setting of "Song of Soldiers" is the same. It is precisely because of the unusually short time that Alyosha's actions are even more precious; the scene of the climax "Mother and Child Gathering" is so thrilling.
In the section "Disabled Soldiers", although Alyosha was anxious to go home, he sacrificed his precious time in order to help the disabled soldiers. He guarded the luggage for the disabled soldiers. At this time, the train entered the station and was about to set off again, and the "conflict" began to be set up again. Alyosha hurried to find the disabled soldier, but found that the soldier was in an emotional dilemma (as a disabled person can he get the warmth of the family). For Alyosha, he faces a choice: one side is the whistle, and the train to go home is about to start-he wants to go home! On one side was the strange soldier met on the road-he wanted to help him. I believe that seeing this, many viewers will be anxious for Alyosha: "Don’t you want to go home, don’t hurry up, the train is about to leave soon!" Because the camera always focused on Alyosha at the beginning of the film, showing his innocence. , Simple, let the audience slowly identify with this character, and then have a sense of substitution. Every audience here is anxious for Alyosha and not for the disabled soldiers. The disabled soldier also has emotional conflicts-he also wants to go home, but he dare not face his wife and family-but his emotional conflicts have been put aside by the audience, and the audience is paying attention to Alyosha.
This is a very interesting psychological phenomenon. The audience's viewing process is actually a process of psychological completion. It is not so much that the audience is watching the movie and paying attention to the fate of the protagonist in the movie; it is better that the audience is watching themselves and paying attention to their own destiny. In the process of watching the movie, the audience's psychology will gradually become one with the protagonist of the movie. This is also the reason why Hollywood commercial films always have heroes-audiences need to see heroes, and they feel that they are heroes. The protagonist of almost every movie in Hollywood is a hero. If the hero is not successfully portrayed, it will be a failed movie.
If "Song of Soldiers" started to focus on disabled soldiers, the audience would be anxious for the disabled soldiers instead of worrying for Alyosha. The story of a disabled soldier can completely multiply another movie. There is a Japanese film "The Yellow Handkerchief of Happiness", which is about a man who has been released from prison, wandering and hesitating on his way home, engaged in a fierce inner struggle, considering whether he should go home. "Whether to regain the warmth of the family" is the common entanglement of these two stories.
Alyosha chose to stay with the disabled soldier and missed the train home. With the help of Alyosha, the disabled soldier met his wife, and the two finally embraced fiercely on the platform. Here, the audience not only felt the cruelty of war but also felt the warmth of the humanity of the bottom people of the Soviet Union. The contradiction of the disabled soldier is resolved, but the fate of the protagonist is pushed into another dilemma. Sid Field wrote in "The Basics of Film Script Writing": "Drama is conflict." In films where conflict constitutes a dramatic contradiction, the protagonist constantly goes from one dilemma to another.
In addition to refracting the real society at the bottom of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War and creating conflicts and unfolding plots, the paragraph "Disabled Soldiers" also shaped Alyosha's glorious image. The whole film always pays attention to Alyosha, constantly shaping his excellent character and image through the people and things around him. In the paragraph "Rescue the Refugees", the train that Alyosha was riding on was attacked, and he desperately saved people. This is the same reason as the paragraph "Disabled Soldiers": to shape Alyosha's glorious image and spirit of being non-selfish and dedicated to benefiting others.
This is a representative work of socialist realism in the former Soviet Union. It was released in 1959. It naturally has the strong atmosphere and characteristics of the times at that time. It is indispensable to eulogize the positive image in socialism. Under the social atmosphere and conditions at the time, the director was not immune to vulgarity, and it was impossible to make revolutionary changes. Tarkovsky's subversive work "Ivan's Childhood" was a matter of years later. If the whole film of "Song of the Soldiers" had written the positive image of Alyosha's "high, big, and complete", it would not become a classic in film history. The spread of the film still touches countless people, not because of Alyosha's "tall, big, and complete" image, but because of his real and human side. As time passes and society changes, people's sense of value and ideology will change, but the common human emotions will not change. Real emotions can always infect and move the audience.
After Alyosha missed the train, he could only achieve his goal of going home through other means, so he took a military train instead. When he used a can to bribe the guard guarding the military train to get on the train, the film entered the focus of the "development" part-the "love passage".
"Love paragraph" has obvious "starting, inheriting, turning, and merging". "Like a paragraph, action or a complete script, each scene has a clear beginning, middle and end. But you only need to express a part of the scene. You can choose only the beginning, or the middle or the end." (Sid • Field's "Basics of Film Script Writing") The same reasoning is that the complete script, paragraphs, scenes, and actions have a "begin, middle and end" in the four play structures from the whole to the part, from large to small. "Love paragraph" is a complete causal relationship paragraph.
In the "love paragraph", it can be roughly divided into the following plot points: 1. The girl was frightened and struggling when she saw Alyosha on the train, and the girl wanted to get off the train because objective conditions did not allow it; 2. The two started from the beginning. The misunderstanding turned into reconciliation and peaceful coexistence; 3. The train guard entered the carriage to find something was the catalyst for their love. The two hugged and hid in the corner in order to avoid the guard. Alyosha couldn't help but want to kiss her; 4. Alyosha bribed the guard again, the conductor appeared, and the contradiction was resolved; 5. Alyosha and the girl were separated until they met again; 6. The two went to deliver soap together; 7. The two broke up on the platform and met tomorrow.
This part tells the love story between Alyosha and the girl, and the two men's mental process moves smoothly and delicately. Here, Alyosha is just an ordinary person. He has common human emotions: the obscurity and desire for love, the impulse and restraint for sex. Here, Alyosha is no longer a symbol of "tall, big, and complete". He is one of countless ordinary people. He is one of the audience watching the screen in the cinema.
In addition to unfolding the storyline, shaping the image of the characters, and enhancing the emotion of the audience, the "love paragraph" actually builds a second line of the plot. The main line of the story is that Alyosha goes home to visit his mother, and the second line is his love with the girl. In the real time and space where the war is raging and the time is like gold, can the love between him and the girl continue, and how can it continue? The two plot lines are intertwined with each other to form a complex and three-dimensional movie time and space. As the story advances gradually, it continues to draw the audience's emotions.
The rhythm of the "love paragraph" is very well grasped. The content of the story and the emotions of the characters continue to conflict. This conflict changes in a wave-shaped development; the plot is pushed to a climax one after another in the ups and downs. The specific plot changes are as follows: When
Alyosha met the girl, due to a misunderstanding, the girl initially struggled, resisted, and even planned to jump off the car (tension)-the two began to meet and live together peacefully (relieved)-the guard appeared, and the two hid ( Nervous)-the guard leaves, the two hug each other, Alyosha can't help but want to kiss her (relieving)-the guard finds the girl and drove her off the train (nervous)-the conductor appears and allows the two to ride ( Soothing)-Alyosha missed the train because he was looking for water for the girl, and the two were separated (nervous)-the two met (relieving).
The plot point is roughly the alternate development of one relaxation and one relaxation. After the two met, there have been three major turning points. Robert McGee’s "Story" said: "Regardless of the background and scale of the storytelling, whether it is an international theme or an epic theme, or a family theme or a personal theme, any feature-length work in narrative art requires at least three major reversals. Reach the end of the main story line." The film "Song of Soldiers" not only has 3 major reversals in the overall drama, but even the "love paragraph" in the drama has 3 major reversals. This also coincides with Syed Field's concept of play—no matter the whole or part of the play, each piece is a complete structure.
This is true for the play, and so is the film.
In the play. The complete screenplay, paragraphs, scenes, and actions have "begin, middle, and end" (start, inherit, turn, and join) in the four play structures from the whole to the part, from big to small. They are a complete structure.
In the movie. Movies, paragraphs, scenes, and shots also have "beginning, middle and end" (starting, inheriting, revolving, and closing), and they are also a complete structure.
The arts are the same with each other. Plays and movies are like this, so is it not like music. Every musical work has "start, inherit, turn, and unite". Art is like this all time: music, literature, folk art, drama, film, dance... If you explore this topic more deeply, you will find that the decline and prosperity of individual life, the rise and fall of human history, the birth and destruction of the earth, and the entire universe are all in line with this truth.
The topic seems to have gone far, returning to the "love paragraph" of "Song of the Soldiers". The play sets up many obstacles for the characters, causing the emotional tension to continue to increase. For example, Alyosha's actions after the two were separated: 1. Chasing the train but failed to catch up; 2. The road was muddy in the rain during the car, making it extremely difficult to walk all the way; 3. He rushed to the train station and found that the train had already left. The mood here is getting lower and lower every time, and the audience is increasingly looking forward to the outcome of the story. When the girl appeared, the previously suppressed emotions were finally released, as if one hand kept pressing the ball under the water. The deeper the ball sinks, the more the ball rebounds when the hand is released.
The physical rules of nature are as follows: the reaction force is as great as the force. In the play: As much as the power of emotional uplift (repression), the power of emotional repression (uplift) is just as great. Precisely because of the continuous restraint given by the previous dramas, when Alyosha finally met the girl, the rising power was so strong. When the girl called Alyosha's name on the bridge, the ball finally bounced from the bottom of the water and jumped into the sky. The audience secretly breathed a sigh of relief, sincerely happy for the protagonist.
The rhythm of the film's drama is so outstanding. Through the constant movement of Zhang Chi, the emotion of the audience is constantly warming up. The love between the last two is naturally the most natural thing.
The ending of "Song of Soldiers" is that Alyosha died on the battlefield, and his mother waited silently on the small road in the village. The main plot line of the film constitutes a closed ending, and the secondary plot line is an open ending. It does not explain the situation of the girl after Alyosha's death, but allows the audience to associate and complete it. In addition to praising the positive image of socialism in the former Soviet Union, the film also reflected some social phenomena at that time, showing the cruelty of war: lack of materials (the greedy material desire of train guards), and the emptiness of spirit (someone who became a rich mistress) The wife of a soldier, the disabled soldier, the people who lost their loved ones in the war... These details are few but indispensable. It is these elements that constitute a relatively complete social scene of the Soviet Union during the Patriotic War.
2009-12-31
will be 2010 soon, and I would like to commemorate my 2009 with this article!
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