''Introduction to Life'' (russian: Вступление, Vstuplijenije) is a 1963 Soviet

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

about

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

seen through the eyes of a young boy from

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. It won a Special Jury Prize at the 24th Venice International Film Festival.

Plot

The Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sout ...

is nearing the end. In a train two youths, Volodya ( Boris Tokarev) and Valya (Natalia Bogunova) returning from evacuation to Leningrad cross paths for a few minutes. The plot carries them to their first random encounter that takes place in the summer of 1941 at a crowded refugee station. The period of growing adolescents, their ''introduction'' to adult life occurs in the arduous years of war. During the bombing of the evacuation train near the Mga station, dies the mother (Lyubov Sokolova) of Valya and her younger sister Lucy (Lida Volkova). After long wanderings in orphanages, the girls are found by their own aunt and they find shelter in her house. The fate of Volodya Jakubowski develops in a difficult way; mother ( Nina Urgant) is divorced from his own father (Yuri Volkov), who has long had another wife and son Oleg (

Nikolai Burlyayev Nikolai Petrovich Burlyayev (russian: Николай Петрович Бурляев; born 3 August 1946) is a Soviet and Russian actor and film director. Born into a family of actors, Burlyayev started his career in film and theatre when he was ...

), a half-brother of Volodya. In evacuation the mother is trying to arrange her personal life, and gets close to the army captain (Stanislav Checkan). Not wanting to burden her, the teenager takes a job at a defensive aircraft factory and moves to a hostel. There he finds a good friend - Romka (

Valery Nosik Valery Benediktovich Nosik (Валерий Бенедиктович Носик, 9 October 1940, Moscow, USSR, — 4 January 1995, Moscow, Russian Federation) was a Soviet Russian film and stage actor, the People's Artist of Russia (1994) who ap ...

). Learning that the woman is pregnant, the captain breaks up with Volodya's mother. The unfavorable reputation of a "loose" woman, a baby girl born without a father, make her unable to rent decent accommodation. The teen takes has a difficult time coping with his mother's unhappy personal life, and goes to Leningrad to his father, so that he would issue a due summons to the city from which the blockade was only recently lifted. Jakubowski Sr. initially refuses to help (facts about the mothers infidelity are discovered) but matured Volodya is insistent and gets what he wants. The father objects to communication between Volodya and Oleg however the teenagers are introduced and become friends.

Cast

* Boris Tokarev as Volodya Yakubovsky * Nina Urgant as mother of Volodya *Yuri Volkov as Volodya's father *

as Oleg *Natalia Bohunova as Valya *Lida Volkova as Lyusa * Lyubov Sokolova as mother of Valya and Lyusa *

Lyubov Malinovskaya Lyubov, Liubov or Lubov is a female given name, meaning “love”. It is of Slavic origin, coming from the basic word ''l'ub'' ( la, caritas). Variants * Russian: ''Любовь'' (Lyubov, Liubov, Lubov), ''Люба'' (Lyuba, Liuba, Luba) * U ...

as Dusya * Valeriy Nosik as Romka *

Viktor Avdyushko Viktor Antonovich Avdyushko (Russian: ''Виктор Антонович Авдюшко''; January 11, 1925 – November 19, 1975) was a Soviet actor and a People's Artist of the Russian SFSR. Biography Early life Avdyushko was born to a father ...

as Bobrov

External links

* * 1963 drama films 1963 films Soviet drama films Russian drama films Films directed by Igor Talankin Soviet World War II films Venice Grand Jury Prize winners 1960s Russian-language films {{1960s-USSR-film-stub