Fate of a Man (Destiny of a Man) / Судьба человека (1959)

Sergei Bondarchuk's debut feature, which he not only directed but also stars in, Destiny of a Man tells the moving account of an ordinary Soviet citizen, Andrei Sokolov, during the desperate fight to protect the motherland from Nazi invasion during World War II. In the course of the struggle, Sokolov is captured by the German invaders and dispatched to a concentration camp, where the inmates are mercilessly worked and ill-treated. The one thing that urges him to cling on to life is the thought of being reunited with his family when the war is over. Beautifully crafted and performed, the film is essentially a morality tale of basic humanity overcoming the adversity of evil.