Reviews

As a tradition for Soviet movies, most of the actors here are theatrical actors and their interaction on the screen is nothing if not realistic and natural. But Shulshin's talent makes him rise above others.

If that's not enough you have Nikulin, who was a war veteran himself, in one of his dramatic roles.

Stolper did not take from the book to the screen a lot of Stalin-praising garbage and concentrated on the battle scenes and interactions between soldiers. Let's not forget that this was the movie that brought Papanov to national fame.

One thing that is disappointing is high degree politicizing, which was unavoidable in a 1963 Soviet movie. The second half of the book and the movie deals with how Sinzov lost his party id card and is fighting to get back the credibility and rank. Other then that the movie works.