Fate of a Man

1959 1h 43m RU

🙌

7.5

BANGER

★7.5TMDB · 97

DramaWar

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

The story of a man whose life was ruthlessly crippled by World War II. His wife and daughters were killed during the bombing of his village, he spent some time as a prisoner, and his only son was killed in action only a few days before the victory...

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Sergei Bondarchuk
Sokolov
Pavel Boriskin
Vanyushka
Zinaida Kirienko
Irina
Pavel Volkov
Ivan
Yuri Averin
Müller
Konstantin Alekseev
German Major
Pavel Vinnikov
Soviet Colonel
Yevgeni Teterin
Writer

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Sergei Bondarchuk
Writers: Yuriy Lukin, Fyodor Shakhmagonov, Mikhail Sholokhov
Languages: English, French, German, Russian
Countries: Soviet Union

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

67 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 4 languages: English, French, German, Russian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Sergei Bondarchuk, shot by Vladimir Monakhov. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Venyamin Basner. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Tatyana Likhachyova shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Sergei Bondarchuk and Pavel Boriskin and Zinaida Kirienko carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0053317 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

Only 97 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Sergei Bondarchuk directs. Vladimir Monakhov behind the camera. Venyamin Basner scores. Tatyana Likhachyova cuts. Produced in Soviet Union. Dialogue in English, French, German, Russian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

167 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Dialogue crosses 4 languages: English, French, German, Russian.
3Directed by Sergei Bondarchuk, shot by Vladimir Monakhov. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Venyamin Basner. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Tatyana Likhachyova shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Sergei Bondarchuk and Pavel Boriskin and Zinaida Kirienko carry the top of the cast.
7IMDB entry: tt0053317 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Only 97 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
9Released under 33 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Vladimir Monakhov
Original score: Venyamin Basner
Editing: Tatyana Likhachyova
Production design: Ippolit Novoderyozhkin
Costume design: Orest Vereyskiy
Makeup / hair: Nikolay Pechentsov
Runtime: 103 min · 1h 43m
Status: Released
Original language: RU
IMDB: Fate of a Man (1959)

Also by

Sergei Bondarchuk

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-12-14
★ 7/10
"Sokolov" (Sergey Bondarchuk) hopes that his warrior days are behind him after the civil war as he settles down with sweetheart "Irina" (Zinaida Kirienko) and starts a family. Sadly for him, the Nazis don't share his desires for a peaceable life and so he is duly conscripted into the Soviet army. Like so many of his counterparts, he waves goodbye to his family promising to return but having no real idea when or if he shall. Things definitely don't get off to a good start when he is captured by the invaders and imprisoned amidst a perilous environment of arbitrary killings regardless of whether you are a prisoner of war, a Russian citizen or a Jew. With the impetus of the war shifting, though, he manages to escape and we follow his attempts to make it back home to his family. Now this is told in retrospective so we do know what the outcome of his searching is going to be and as we near the denouement we find a character that's utterly devoid of hope - until the young lad "Vanya" (a joyous effort from Pavel Boriskin) makes an unpredictably profound impact on the older man now largely bereft of purpose. The wartime photography delivers strongly here illustrating the mayhem and chaos brought by the indiscriminate activities of their enemy and, latterly, their own forces whilst clearly demonstrating the horrors randomly inflicted on the population. Bondarchuk is also expert at portraying a character that is simple, decent and ultimately one who wants merely to be left to the joys of his family and his hard work. That's especially poignant when he is facing death at the hands of the prison camp commandant who sees the killing of his inmates as little different from sport. There's a tiny bit of religiosity in here too, which I thought added an extra human dimension to a story that could just as easily be applied to any of a million foot soldiers fighting in WWII without knowing what was going on at home. If the last scene doesn't bring a lump to your throat...

Production companies