Fate of a Man (1959)

One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Better Late Then Never

Best movie ever!

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

the novel by Sholokhov. the performance of Bondarchuk. the wise script. the close-up. and the life of a man who seems be only new Job. a film who impress not only for the drama but for its profound poetry of small details. a confession. and the hope. the war's traces. and the future as new beginning. it is part of a long chain who defines the Soviet cinema as artistic treasure. it is, in same measure, fruit of a political situation. but, more important, it is a fine work. because it reflects human feelings, duties and pain out of ideological circle. because it is an universal story. and one of beautiful examples of high cinema. that could be all. not a great show but useful exercise about the force of art. and, sure, for the Eastern public, a travel in history, against wars, crisis, disasters. and cases of survive.

I've seen a few Russian war films recently and noticed that they feel more like Hollywood war films . Both THE STAR and 9TH COMPANY suffer from this . COME AND SEE didn't . It was a brutal , unforgettable war film made during the late communist era of the Soviet Union showing the bestial atrocities forced upon the Soviet people . I did have high hopes that being a Soviet film rather than a Russian one DESTINY OF A MAN would show the suffering the Soviets endured from 1941-45 . Does it ? Yes to a degree but there's some faults in the story telling The story is told in flashback by Andrey Sokolov . He is taking his son for a walk in the countryside and meets a man and tells him of his wartime service . Conscripted in to the army as a driver he is captured by the Germans early in the war . He suffers deprivation as he's used as slave labour , sees comrades murdered by the Nazis , comes close death several times . Escapes and makes it back to his own lines where he's treated as a hero . He finds his wife and daughter died during an air raid and as the last days of the war take place his last child , a Red Army officer is killed in the Battle Of Berlin . Devastated Sokolov finds some comfort when he finds an orphan and adopts him as his son It's not a film that has a strong central plot . It is rather episodic but where it succeeds is showing the brutality of the Nazi regime against conquered people . Caputured officers , political commissars and Jews were shot out of hand and as Sokolov finds himself behind Nazi lines there's a scene where people go in to a camp with a large chimney bellowing smoke . The implication is stark and obvious - you enter via the front gate and leave via the chimney Ironically by drawing attention to the murderous intent of Nazism it leaves some plot holes involving Sokolov . He escapes from a forced labour detail and hides in the countryside for four days and is then recaptured . But would the Nazis allow an escaped prisoner to live ? Lkewise a brutal SS camp commander says he's going to execute Sokolov but then changes his mind because Sokolov can hold his drink There's another unlikelihood and that is when Sokolov escapes to the Soviet front lines kidnapping a German officer with important documents and being lauded as a hero , but would this have happened in real life ? It's a forgotten point of history that Soviet prisoners captured during the war would receive little sympathy from their leaders after being liberated . Many of them would be sent on a death march to Soviet gulags . It's disappointing that this aspect is never referred to , especially since Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev instigated a de-Stalination program in the late 1950s at the time this film was made That said it's very much a humanist type of film showing the triumph of the human will in the face of great adversity and all these type of films suffer from the same flaw . The Japanese film trilogy THE HUMAN CONDITION is similar in some ways . But DESTINY OF A MAN doesn't suffer from the sugary artificial aspects of Hollywood and for that we should be thankful

This movie is very special in many ways. It is a good movie in cinematic terms because it is aesthetically very impressive and has a good plot structure. On the other hand, this film touches subjects that were taboo in the Soviet Union of the time, and bravely shows parts of the history of the war that had not been part of public discourse at the time. It is also unusual because many Soviet films about WWII ended with an upbeat note, unlike this one."Fate of a Man", as the title of the film translates, is a movie about a Soviet man (Sokolov) who experiences many of the horrors of the war against the Soviet Union. The movie tells his story in a flashback, showing how he is very broken after the war and what led to this. He had lost his family in the war, and had fought in it, he witnessed how his Jewish comrades were singled out and killed, and then he was taken to Germany to do forced labor. There, he suffered all sorts of abuse and barely survived. After the war ends, he goes back home, distressed and unable to find comfort for his emotional and physical pain. The film is very subtle in its depiction of the horrors of war, even though it does not white-wash what happened. As it was the first Soviet film to touch the subject of slave labor during the war, and of the murder of the Soviet Jews, it does this carefully, emphasizing the humanity of the victims of these cruel crimes without focusing on the gore. Together with "The Cranes are Flying" and "Ivan's Childhood" this is one of the first Soviet films about WWII that do not have a happy "we won"-type of ending. These three films were a form of dealing with the suppressed pain of Soviet citizens, after having lost one quarter of their population (27mio.) through the brutal attack by the Nazis. This movie is very impressive and very touching as well. I highly recommend it.

This first directorial effort from actor Bondarchuk (mainly known for his monumental War and Peace) shouldn't have starred the director. His ruddy countenance didn't convince me one bit he suffered through all the mishaps in his life during the Great War. Furthermore I found it very hard to believe the Germans went to so much effort to save the lives of these Untermenschen. There were good performances though and it is shot beautifully.Watch instead Come and See (Idi i Smotri) for a shattering experience of the Great War.