"Song of the Soldier" is a recognized classic and occupies an important place in the entire Soviet film history and even the world film history; its narrative strategy and audio-visual language also provide references for subsequent film creations. The following may wish to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the film from the aspects of the film's director style, audio-visual language, and narrative mode.
The film tells the story of a front-line communications soldier, Alyosha, who was given a chance to go home to visit his mother because of his skillful exploits. As for his journey home from the front line, he went through a series of twists and turns, and met compatriots in different situations. A few minutes after he finally arrived home to see his mother, he had to continue to go to the front lines and die for the country.
As one of the representative films of the thawing period of the Soviet Union, "Song of the Soldiers" directed by Chukhray inherits the unified style of war films of this period: showing ordinary people who have suffered from war wounds. The protagonists of the film are no longer "superheroes" who save the people from misery. They may be friends around you and me. They will be timid, miss, and die in battle. They leave their homes and go to the front because of a war. In addition, as one of the representatives of Soviet poetic films, Chukhray's film creations are also manifested in the deep depiction of the characters' hearts and their emotional entanglements, the use of slow-moving long shots full of lyrical and symbolic meanings, Panoramic shots and close-up shots are used alternately. In the film, for example, the development of Alyosha's romance is not all smooth sailing. Shura's feelings for Alyosha from the beginning of panic and precaution, and then through the little discoveries in the process of coexisting with him, gradually became trust and love, and it was only when the two finally separated that they were expressed in running and shouting. Alyosha, who was on the train going far away, printed Shula's face on the birch forest (a birch forest is often used to describe a slim girl in Russian culture) that kept falling back with the train. The close-up of the smile and the stare expresses the boundless longing and sadness of Alyosha. The processing of this content fully reflects the director's style, laying the tone for the style of Soviet poetry films, representing his artistic characteristics and world outlook.
The success of "Song of the Soldiers" is also inseparable from the director's superb audio-visual language skills. "Seeing" and "Listening" in the film are two different film languages. The director's skillful use of lens scheduling skills such as angles, scenes, and mirror movements further strengthens and expresses the artistic connotation of the film. In "Song of the Soldiers", one point worth talking about is the bold switch of scenes in the film.
Generally speaking, the long-range, panoramic, and medium-range scenes have a sense of objectivity and record, and the audience is isolated and isolated from the emotions of the picture; Xiaojingbie has a subjective and lyrical feeling. The audience is attracted by the emotions in the picture, and inadvertently participates in the emotional experience/emotional shock of the people in the play.
In "Song of the Soldiers", the director directly followed a close-up/large close-up after a panorama/medium shot many times. This way of assembling shots with the characteristics of the Soviet montage school creates a strong visual/sensory impact in scenes with strong visual/sensory impact. At the same time, the emotional expression of the characters in the play is greatly strengthened, and the audience is "stitched" into the emotional core inside the picture in the most tense form. For example, the legless soldier who was with Alyosha waited for a long time on the platform for his wife, who had not come to greet him, and walked to the exit in frustration. The shot at this time is a panoramic shot, and the reunion of others on the platform is in stark contrast to the loneliness and loss of the legless soldier. Just as he was walking in loneliness, a familiar and eager voice stopped him, and he turned back suddenly - at this time the camera suddenly switched to a close-up of his face, and his eyes were full of shock and surprise when he looked back (not yet. Surprise) - it was his wife who ran towards him. As the audience, we, while experiencing the drastic changes in his emotions together, further strengthened such "empathy" in the process of strong visual impact. Such a lens treatment not only reflects the artistic pursuit and exploration of Chukhrai, but also further deepens the emotional expression of the film, and has made breakthrough achievements in terms of characterization, photographic composition and story structure.
In addition, the achievement of "Song of the Soldiers" is closely related to the presentation of the director's rigorous narrative system. If the narrative style is divided into the art film narrative mode and the commercial/Hollywood film narrative mode, then "Song of the Soldier" undoubtedly belongs to the former system.
First of all, in the narrative elements, the theme of the film clearly points to the indictment of war and the intractable wounds that war has brought to ordinary people. This is not only reflected in the group portraits of all living beings during the war that Alyosha saw and heard on the way home from the front line, but also in the tragedy of Alyosha's personal fate - as a young man with vigor and a pure heart, He will no longer be able to return to his homeland to help his mother repair the broken roof, and will no longer be able to find his beloved Shura who was lost in the crowd - he will be a Russian soldier, sleeping forever in a foreign land in the land.
In addition, the narrative structure of the film also presents a poetic and prose temperament that is different from the traditional dramatic structure. All we know is that Alyosha is going home to visit his mother, but his experiences on the way home are random, and there is no close causal relationship between them, but they all reflect Alyosha's return home. . In addition, the reverse-sequence narration of the film and the return of the way home at the beginning and the end also endow the film with a different kind of intrigue: at the beginning of the film, Alyosha's mother is pale-haired, standing at the entrance of the village and looking into the distance, but She didn't look forward to anything anymore, because Alyosha had already died in battle; and at the end of the film, it was the same road at the entrance of the village. Mother, get on the car and run to the distant front. This makes the viewer mistakenly think that the sadness at the beginning is just a hoax, as if a righteous partner like Alyosha will soon return to visit his mother-by the way, he will bring back a beautiful and lovely wife. But in fact Alyosha has left us after all, in fact he will never come back, and the short meeting and parting at the end must be the last greetings to each other.
In short, "Song of the Soldiers", as the most famous film of director Chukhray, has many remarkable points, and it is a representative example of the overall style of Soviet poetic films. The film reproduces the face of the times and conveys a kind of care for us with mature and fluent lens language, profound ideological connotation, and friendly and real characterization. I think that's where "Song of the Soldiers" can strike us deep down.
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