Hi, Mj Sabbir here. Today, I’m going to explain a film based on the
real-life story of the youngest warrior of World War II called “Soldier Boy.”
Assuming it is his mother, he runs towards it, but a neighbouring woman comes in panicking. She thanks God for keeping him alive, and informs him that his mother and brother are dead. The little boy cannot comprehend what she is saying, and wants to stay in the house to wait for his mother. The woman tells him that the Germans have attacked them and that he should run away. Just then, some soldiers approach their house. The woman makes Sergei run out through the window but is shot dead before she can join him. The little six-year-old is now on his own, with no family and friends. As Sergei runs away from the house, he sees his whole neighbourhood burning behind him.
He calls for his mother in vain, and runs away from there. After running for a while,
He ends up in the middle of the woods. The little kid starts to call for his mother to
come and get him, because he is lost. That night, he stays in the jungle. The following morning,
We see him drink water from a river, when the enemy soldiers approach his way.
Sergei, knowing that they are dangerous, quickly hides inside a tree's roots.
He is startled when a snake comes nearby, but doesn’t utter a word or run away.
Sergei is more scared of the soldiers than of the snake. The soldiers eat by the river and go away, after which Sergei takes their leftover food and devours it for the night.
However, by the end of the day, the little boy is exhausted. He hasn’t had a proper meal in two days and has been walking with no destination. He falls down as he limps but doesn’t stop walking. While on his way, he sees wild berries and devours them; but just then, an explosion occurs behind him, taking him by surprise. The boy gets dizzy, and starts to hallucinate someone coming behind him. However, even in such conditions, he stands brave and tells the person he has a rifle and is not scared. He limps forward but falls unconscious after a while. While he is asleep, two soldiers approach him. The scene cuts to the Russian army base where Commander Kuznetsov waits for his patrol soldiers. They come in with the little kid who is injured and weak. When the soldiers claim they are on his side, the little boy opens up and introduces himself. The soldiers laugh when the kid shakes his hand with the commander, Suggesting he introduce himself too. The soldiers feel affectionate with
the little kid, and circle him around. They make him drink water and feed him.
Even the otherwise cold commander takes care of the kid. A nurse named Katya dresses Sergei’s wounds, and is charmed by his personality too. The kid asks her to draw a tank on his wounds, because He wants to be a soldier when he grows up. Even the injured soldiers talk to the kid, and feel lighter. Sergei is fascinated with the commander’s gun and his batch. The commander too answers all the little boy’s questions and lets him play with his honorary pistol after taking the bullets out. Sergei shows him the tank drawn on his stomach, and boasts about being a soldier himself. The boy is healing very quickly. The nurse Katya asks the commander to let the boy stay with the battalion, but he disagrees, claiming that it won’t be safe; he wants to send Sergei to an orphanage. The soldiers spent all their free time with Sergei. He is visited by many throughout the day. They bring him food sent by their families from afar, and even let him play with their binoculars.
One day, a soldier goes to the commander to ask him to let the boy stay with the battalion.
The soldiers have grown a close connection with the kid, and think of him as their own.
His presence takes the weight of war off their chest. However, the commander is adamant about sending the boy to the orphanage, for his own safety. The following day, the enemies attack, and many soldiers are hurt. A vehicle comes to fetch Sergei to take him to the orphanage. The The commander breaks the news to the kid ,and gives him a wooden honorary pistol as a gift. The boy in turn hugs him, claiming that he is scared for the commander’s safety. The commander melts in his embrace, and change his mind. He asks Sergei to stay with the soldiers as his son. That night, the soldiers look for little soldier clothes for the little boy, they are over the moon to have Sergei stay with them. The commander wakes Sergei up and gives him the clothes. He wears them and runs
around, looking like a real soldier. The others start calling him their little soldier boy.
As the kid runs around, the Germans launch an air attack on the battalion. The soldiers quickly take Sergei goes to a safe place and fights the others. The number of injured soldiers grows rapidly. Sergei wants to make himself useful, so he brings water to thirsty soldiers. One of them asks him to read a letter sent by his family because he has a bandage over his eyes. The little boy wants to help, but doesn’t know how to read. He takes the letter and starts making up the things written on it, claiming that the soldier’s cow is safe back home. When the soldier says he doesn’t have a cow, the others tell him to go along with the story and laugh. He reads everyone else’s letters in the same fashion and cheers them up. In the following scene, we see Katya and the Commander talking. The two seem to be attracted to each other, but do not confess their feelings. Later, Sergei tells the Commander that he is of the orderly position in the battalion and starts introducing himself as one. However, the boy then sees one of the soldier’s station destroyed from the attack. The commander teaches him to take his hat off to pay respect to the dead soldier.
The next day, he insists the commander give him a mission and is given a task to distribute the letters among the soldiers. He completes his task efficiently and even makes the soldiers dance for him. The following day, Sergei goes a little far from the base with his binoculars.
As he is playing with it, he sees someone’s leg moving from inside a haystack, he rushes back to the battalion and tells the soldiers about his findings. The soldiers are sceptical,
but go with the boy anyway. When they reach near the haystack, they are alerted to see two German spies hiding underneath. The spies are arrested, and the kid is praised for his intelligence. That night, the commander shows Sergei the legal papers for his adoption. He is now officially the kid’s father. Sergei knows of the commander’s feelings for Katya, so, to repay his kindness, He takes him to confess to her. But the two see her talking to a different man, and wrongfully assume she is interested in someone else. The base is attacked by the Germans again. This time, Sergei helps the soldiers with all his might, by supplying ammunition to the soldiers in the frontline, but the soldiers there command him to go back to the shed because it is too dangerous outside. When he comes to the shed, he sees the commander and others panicking because the phone’s connection with the colonel is lost. A soldier is sent to fix the broken wires. Sergei follows the soldier and sees he has been fatally wounded. He asks the dying soldier how he can fix the wires, and does it himself. The connection comes back and more troops are called. The six year old saves everyone’s life. Later, we see the commander and Katya talking by the river. The commander finally confesses his love for her and asks her to be Sergei’s mother. Katya is over the moon, but before she can say anything, a soldier approaches them and gives the commander a letter, saying they have been dispatched from the base. The following day, all the soldiers leave for their new base along with Sergei. However, on their way, They come across a minefield that blows off some of their vehicles. The commander is hurt while the the group's orderly, who Sergei was close with, dies in the explosion. He cries and hugs the commander.
They carry the injured ones with them and continue their journey to their new base.
When they finally reach the other base, they meet the commander’s leader,
The General. He too is impressed by the kid’s ambition, and congratulates the commander for having such a smart kid. The following day, their division is awarded a guard’s banner,
and so is the boy. He promises to save his country when the general gives him his batch.
One night, their base is attacked brutally, and the commander is trapped under the ruins.
Sergei cries for his father and tries to save him. He calls the other soldiers,
who finally brings the commander out. The next day, Sergei approaches an injured commander, his hands were hurt while trying to save the commander.
The kid is now an inseparable part of the team. He doesn’t have a family beside them, and moves wherever they go in the war. The movie ends as the regiment is seen moving to another base. A voice in the background narrates that he even took part in the Stalingrad battle, and reached Poland with the soldiers. He is currently known as the world’s youngest soldier ever, and the legendary story of his bravery, is now spread for the whole world to hear.