Ballad of a Soldier- Directed by Grigori Chukhrai

Ballad of a Soldier, a 1959 film directed by Grigori Chukhrai, is a film that dealt with a painful subject: World War II. The film deals with a plight that many people on either side of the conflict: leaving family behind. Such is the problem Alyosha, the protagonist of the film is facing. By a random stroke of luck, he is able to gain a leave from duty to visit home. Along the way, he encounters many interesting people, including the young woman Shura, with whom he eventually falls in love with. It is because of Alyosha's misadventures that his time to visit his mother is cut down from a day, to a mere moment; a moment that he treasures deeply.

This film demonstrates the more emotional side of war, rather than the fighting aspects. One of the scenes that exemplify this is when Alyosha's mother cries out that she won't let him go back to the war; he almost looks as if he's about to cry, but is able to maintain his composure before he leaves. This scene kind of personifies the emotions felt at the time, not only of the Russian soldiers, but any soldier who was forced to leave his family behind. This film is a very good example of how the times were changing in Soviet Russia, and how the Khruschev Thaw affected both the film industry and the Soviet Union altogether; the entire USSR undergoing a time of leniency that bettered the country until the Era of Stagnation came to pass.