Father of a Soldier

Rezo Chkheidze's 1965 Georgian film is the story of an old vine grower. Hearing that his soldier son has been wounded, Georgy Makharashvili sets out for the hospital, and by the time he arrives the boy has been sent back to the front. Rather than going home he joins the army and marches with a unit pushing west. The film describes the war not through a soldier's eyes but through those of a peasant who has worked the land; that trampled vines, felled trees and ruined fields weigh on him as heavily as the loss of people is its central idea. Sergo Zakariadze's performance is counted among the most remembered in Soviet cinema. The story contains humour too, with the old man's unfitness for the army producing comic scenes. The ending is harsh. Who it's for: viewers who like war drama and Soviet-era cinema. Who it's not for: anyone expecting a heroic narrative; the film describes loss.