Ballad of a Soldier

"Ballad of a Soldier" (1959) — a Soviet war drama directed by Grigory Chukhray — is available to watch online on iFILM. Vladimir Ivashov and Zhanna Prokhorenko star, in a Mosfilm production.

Private Alyosha Skvortsov knocks out two German tanks on the front line and gets offered a medal. He asks instead for a short leave to see his mother. The trip home turns into something longer: a legless veteran too scared to face his wife, a girl named Shura traveling alone, air raids, and a country that war has made almost unrecognizable. By the time Alyosha reaches home, only minutes of his leave remain.

Chukhray built the film around decency rather than combat. Ivashov had no screen credits when he was cast — a film school student — and that untested quality reads as exactly the right kind of earnestness for the role. Cannes handed the film a Special Jury Prize in 1960; the Academy put it on the shortlist for Best Original Screenplay, an unusual distinction for a Soviet picture at the time. Stream "Ballad of a Soldier" online on iFILM.