Destiny of Man

Directed by Sergei Bondarchuck
StarringStarring:Sergei Bondarchuk, Zinaida Kirienko, Pavlik Boriskin
1959

This was Sergei Bondarchuck's debut feature which he not only directed but also acted the main part of Andrei Sokolov in the screen adaptation of Nobel Prize winning author Mikhail Sholokov's novel.

Beautifully crafted and acted, the film is a moving account of an ordinary Soviet citizen - Anfrei Sokolov - during the desperate fight to protect the motherland from Nazi invasion during World War II.

In the course of the struggle, Sokolov is captured by the German invaders and dispatched to a concentration camp in which the inmates are mercilessly worked and ill-treated. The only thing that urges him to cling on to his life is the thought of being reunited with his family when the war is over.

Essentialy a morality tale of humanity ultimately winning over evil adversity, the film, on its 1961 release (2 years after it was made), was a great worldwide success and an eye-opener to western audiences who assumed Soviet directors could not break free from their propaganda yokes, and launched Bondarchuk onto further landmark films asuch as They Fought for their Motherland, Waterloo and War and Peace.

Award:
1959 Moscow International Film Festival Grand Prize