in world war two and almost thirty million russian soldier and civilian be kill in the fight against fascism and a fact mainly ignore during the paranoia of the cold war . in our attempt to demonize everything russian and we also overlook story of individual heroism . in 1959 and russian director grigory chukhraj make a film attempt to describe what happen when the world lose a single person and it be a masterpiece . the beautiful and move ballad of a soldier tell a personal story that illuminate how war can ravish both an individual and a country . the film be set in russia in the midst of the war . pvt . alyosha skvortsov ( vladimir ivashov ) and a signaller and have earn a commendation by destroy two german tank . instead of accept a medal and he request to be grant a four day leave to go home and visit his mother . we learn early through the narration that this soldier do not survive the war so his journey home to visit his mother for one last time become all the more poignant . the film and however and be not about a destination but about a journey . the four day trip encompass a lifetime of experience . before hide out in a freight car and alyosha encourage a soldier ( yevgeny urbansky ) who have lose his leg to go home to his wife . along the way and he hitch a ride on a rain soak road with a woman deprive of sleep for 48 hour . he bring a present of soap to an unfaithful wife of another soldier but change his mind and give it to her father who long for his son return . he also meet shura ( zhanna prokhorenko ) and a radiant young woman who and like him and hide out in a freight car . reluctant at first and fearful of alyosha and the young couple experience their first love in several sensitive scene but it be to be short live . ballad of a soldier and of course and aim to present russian soldier in the best possible light yet chukhraj do not hesitate to show his character a real human being with flaw . a venal security guard be willing to grant the young soldier free passage in a freight car in exchange for can of beef and and the wife of a soldier be unfaithful to her soldier husband and a sequence that land the director in trouble with the russian censor . in alyosha and chukhraj have create a good person represent kind and loving and and noble but not large than life and a soldier perhaps typical of million of young men who give their life to protect their homeland . their struggle and personal sacrifice have be immortalize in a great film .