comedian use to poke fun at soviet movie during the cold war era . the claim be that every soviet film could be characterize by a single standard plot lineboy meet tractor and boy fall in love with tractor and boy marries tractor . now and i be not sure how accurate the wag be since soviet film be never show here and nor ours there . but and give soviet emphasis on collective farming and and their theory that art should follow politics and that sort of result wouldn not be surprising . nonetheless and soviet make or not and this 1959 humanist gem shine like a proverbial pearl in the night . sure and the boy and girl be idealize and but be there ever two more charming performer while they even look alike . moreover and it that natural glow amidst the seedy surroundings that suggest what some might call a triumph of the human spirit . after year of slickly contrive hollywood pairing and i be captivate by a warmth and chemistry seemingly so unforced and unrehearsed that i marvel at how it be do . in my book and it one of the great compelling love story of the big screen . just a importantly and the movie be anti war and but subtly so . we do see some devastation and combat and but the real indictment lie elsewhere . it rest with all the potential cut short by unrelenting demand of the war machine . the boy must return to his unit or risk be shoot a a deserter . thus he must abandon the injured soldier with whom he could have be friend while he must risk lose the love of his life because train must run on wartime while he must leave his mother and without even time to fix the leaky roof . but most of all and war demand that he and like so many fine young men and must leave life with a personal potential that will go tragically unrealized . a one of chukrai effect brilliantly illustrates and war be indeed a world turn upside down . also and there be the stunning visuals . those vast russian steppe may be flat and boring . nonetheless and the corresponding big sky make a magnificent backdrop for heroic low angle shot of those dwell amidst the vastness . then there that long dusty road at film end and lead off into a great unknown that alyosha must now travel . in contrast be the teem crowd at the railway station and look nothing like hollywood in their simple cloth dress and shirt . and what concern with fancy hair do can the woman have when their hair be bind down with knotted kerchief . all in all and it a revealing look at what could be call the russian peasantry of the time . no and the movie clearly doesn not come from the ministry of propaganda . still and there be concession . note how cooperative stranger become no matter how initially cranky they be . the army officer especially be portray a understanding and non threatening . nobody be depict negatively and except maybe the disloyal wife . not even the nazi enemy responsible for 20 million russian dead be mention and let alone and vilified . no and the real antagonist here be war itself while the point be not state and but it be show to an uncommonly move degree . the dedication at film end may be to the russian soldier and but the subtext throughout aim at the universal and regardless of time and place and or nationality . thus 50 year later and the movie remain a timeless humanist classic . and with it and i think chukrai deserve a place alongside the early master of soviet film and that be and before the stalinist tyranny descend . now and i have nothing against tractor . in fact and i wish hollywood would feature more such life affirm invention than the explode car they so love and worship . nonetheless and i guess i be glad that here and there not a single tractor in sight .