Public film screening of Soldiers to mark Victory Day

On 9 May, there will be a public screening of the feature film Soldiers in the square outside the Mikhailovsky Theatre to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Soldiers, based on Victor Nekrasov’s novel Front-Line Stalingrad, was made at Lenfilm in 1956. The celebrated composer Oleg Karavaichuk, who wrote the original score to the film, will share his reminiscences of working on the picture.

The film will be shown four times on Victory Day, with the first screening at 1:00 pm. The official part of the programme with Oleg Karavaichuk is due to take place from 5:00–6:00 pm.

Soldiers, which featured Innokenty Smoktunovsky in one of his first major film roles, was directed by Alexander Ivanov. The screenplay was written by Victor Nekrasov, who adapted it from his novel published in 1946. This forthright book largely set the tone for all post-war prose — its author developed an austere confessional style, devoid of the usual grandiloquence and adulation of the Soviet leadership. Several million copies of the book were printed and the author was awarded the Stalin Prize. Later, however, as Nekrasov’s social stance diverged further and further from the official line, the film also suffered, and was eventually consigned to oblivion after the author’s forced emigration. Later still, Nekrasov was stripped of his Soviet citizenship for “activity incompatible with the high calling of a citizen of the USSR”. The film was not shown again in cinemas until 9 May 1991.

The Mikhailovsky Theatre is dedicating the public screening on 9 May to the hallowed memory of the fallen heroes of the Second World War.

An exclusive video from the composer will also be shown.