Russian soldier Alyosha Skvortsov is granted a visit with his mother after he single-handedly fends off two enemy tanks.
As he journeys home, Alyosha encounters the devastation of his war-torn country,
witnesses glimmers of hope among the people, and falls in love. With its poetic visual imagery,
Grigori Chikhrai's Ballad of a Soldier is an unconventional meditation on the effects of war,
and a milestone in Russian cinema.