Ballad of a Soldier

1959
Soviet Union
88 min
PG

Directed by: Grigoriy Chukhray
Cast: Vladimir Ivashov, Zhanna Prokhorenko, Antonina Maksimova

In Grigoriy Chukhray’s romantic World War II drama, Vladimir Ivashov’s inexperienced, young Russian conscript yearns for home while battling on the Eastern Front. Granted a few days leave to see his mother following an astonishing act of heroism, the young private spends much of his train journey home helping others. Eventually crossing paths with Zhanna Prokhorenko’s stowaway Shura, during this eventful journey the two begin to fall in love.