Destiny of a Man

Destiny of a Man Russian , translit. Sudba Cheloveka is a 1959 Soviet film adaptation of the novel by Mikhail Sholokhov, and also the directorial debut of Sergei Bondarchuk. In the year of its release it won the Grand Prize at the 1st Moscow International Film Festival Bondarchuk would win again for the first part of his colossal adaption of Tolstoys War and Peace, titled Andrei Bolkonsky, six years later.

As the war begins, Andrei is enlisted as a Red Army truck driver, leaving his family behind. He is ordered to drive on a road under bombardment to carry vital supplies to the army on the other side. Stukas detect and divebomb Andreis convoy while the other trucks stop and the personnel run for cover Andrei continues driving through the gunfire, until a nearby explosion upturns his truck and knocks Andrei unconscious. When he comes to, Andrei finds himself at the mercy of two German officers, who send him along with many other Russian soldiers to an abandoned church, where a Russian doctor fixes his dislocated shoulder.The next morning all soldiers suspected of being either communists, commissars, officers, or Jews are rounded up and executed, including the doctor who had helped Andrei, and the remainder are sent to a concentration camp. Andrei, desperately lonely, dreams of his family calling out to him and longing for his return. Andrei, along with all the other prisoners, is set to work as a forced labourer an escape attempt ends with his recapture after four days and transfer to a concentration camp in Germany. Andrei is subsequently relocated between many German camps, including B14 near Kstrin where each prisoner is required to shift four cubic metres of rubble every day. One night Andrei is called into the camp leaders office and sentenced to execution by shooting for having complained in the barracks. Before he takes Andrei out into the yard shoot him saying he will do him the honor of shooting him personally, the commander gives him one final glass of vodka to salute the German victory at Stalingrad. Andrei refuses the offer, but agrees to toast the imminent end of his suffering after downing the large glass, the commander offers him a bite to eat, but Andrei says he never eats after only one glass. The officer pours him another, which he downs equally quickly, again refusing food, claiming he never drinks after only two glasses. The German officers, awe

Source: Wikipedia