On the Road to Berlin (Doroga na Berlin, aka Road to Berlin) is a 2015 film directed by Sergei Popov.
Despite the title, the characters in the story aren't on the road to Berlin and in fact are headed in the other direction. The film is set on the southern portion of the Eastern Front of World War II, as the Germans attack, in an offensive that will eventually end at Stalingrad. Sergey Ogarkov is a smooth-faced young lieutenant who, as the story opens, is carrying orders to army headquarters. Unfortunately for Sergei, Germans burst out of the woods and overrun his location. Sergei survives, running away, but when he's caught by his own people he's charged as a deserted and sentenced to death. (This sort of thing was all too common.)
As he awaits his execution Sergei is guarded by Private Dzhurbaev, who is not an ethnic Russian but a Kazakh from central Asia. The order must be confirmed by army headquarters, so Pvt. Dzhurbaev is assigned to escort Sergey back to headquarters. But the Germans are on the march and the Red Army is in headlong retreat, so Sergei and Dzhurbaev wind up going on a harrowing, difficult cross-country march on foot during war.
Tropes:
- All for Nothing: Sergei and Dzhurbaev are led by a local boy to a pilot, badly wounded in a crash. They work their butts off to get the pilot to safety, taking him across a river on a raft and then carrying him on a stretcher. They finally get him to Russian lines, but the doctor who receives the pilot amputates both his legs. When the pilot wakes up and finds this out, he kills himself.
- Day Hurts Dark-Adjusted Eyes: Sergei, after Dzhurbaev pulls him out of the storage bin where he's been locked up.
- Distant Finale: The last few minutes of the film skip forward three years, to show the Red Army marching to Berlin in 1945. Sergei, who is still alive, meets an old friend of his and remembers Dzhurbaev.
- Drop Dead Gorgeous: Sergei and Dzhurbaev, in a burnt-out village, find the naked, dead body of a woman, obviously raped by the Germans. Dzhurbaev covers her with a coat.
- Honor Before Reason: Sergei delivers himself to be executed after Dzhurbaev is killed by a German artillery barrage. Things work out in the end, though.
- Insignia Rip-Off Ritual: After Sergei is convicted of cowardice at a drumhead courtmartial, the officer in charge orders that his shoulderboards be ripped off.
- Jitter Cam: When Sergei is running for his life after a squad of German tanks overruns the area.
- Just in Time: The firing squad is raising rifles when an orderly comes in calling Sergei's name. He's been summoned to the commandant.
- Mood Whiplash: Sergei is having a friendly conversation with an attractive war widow. There's even a hint of Maybe Ever After when she suggests that one day, when the war is over, he could come and visit. Then out of nowhere German artillery starts falling, and Dzhurbaev is killed.
- Never Learned to Read: After they've become friends, the illiterate Dzhurbaev asks Sergei to write a letter home for him. Sergei does so, and mails it off after Dzhurbaev is killed.
- The Quiet One: While not silent, Dzhurbaev is pretty taciturn, possibly because he's from Central Asia and not perfectly fluent in Russian. Much of his dialogue is saying stuff like "It is forbidden" and "We must go to Army headquarters."
- Road Trip Plot: On foot, as Sergei and Dzhurbaev, trekking cross-country, find burnt-out villages, witness war crimes, help a downed pilot, and wind up defending a village against the Germans.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: A sergeant, with his head swathed in bloody bandages, has clearly gone mad. He starts screaming "Why did you change?" at all of his fellow Russians in the village, thinking they are Germans in disguise. Worse, he's brandishing a gun. Another officer shoots him.
- Spiteful Spit: Sergei and Dzhurbaev, hiding in the weeds, see a bunch of Russian prisoners being held by the Germans. One, presumably an officer, is yanked to his feet and brought to a German officer, who asks him something. The Russian spits at the German, and then the German shoots him.
- Visual Title Drop: The 1945 Distant Finale shows that the Red Army actually is on the road to Berlin, as indicated by a signpost showing Berlin only 70km distant, with Moscow over 1800km in the rear.
