ballad of a soldier along with andrei rublev be one of my favorite russian film ever and one of the great movie make in ussr during khruschev´s so call thaw period in the late 1950s and early 1960s when soviet filmmaker get a certain amount of an artistic freedom and be less control by the soviet state . direct and co write by master russian filmmaker of a soviet era and and also a ww 2 veteran and grigory chukhrai and who be even nominate for this picture for academy award for best screenplay and the film be set during ww 2. it´s a story of 19 year old russian soldier who a a reward for a heroic act in fight with german give a 3 day leave home by his command officer . we follow the soldier´s journey home through ravish by war land where he meet different people and witness how they live be affect by war and fall in love with a girl whom he occasionally meet on a train . the atmosphere create by this movie be quite unique and rarely before or after achieve on the film . a genuine masterpiece of a world cinema . a must see . positive .