Ballad of a soldier is a story of a Russian soldier and of his three day break from the war front which he has been granted (for his bravery) to visit his mother in hometown. There is something really beautiful about this movie that attracted me most. The story though very simple and common it is told in a most humble way (Just for instance the reason soldier want a break from war to visit his mother is to take care of the leaking roof that she wrote about in a letter), possibly very few movies are this strikingly simple. This soldier's journey is filled with fun, laughter, love, humanity and much more all beautifully balanced with scenes from war in the backdrop. Acting wise the lead actor is brilliant, his mother too in a small role ably depicted the longing for his son, and the actress (love interest for our hero) is good too, and she looks beautiful throughout. Direction is good; cinematography too is very good capturing the beautiful landscape of Russia well.<br /><br />Although this is a war movie, not much of the war is depicted as in "Saving Private Ryan", neither is it "The Deer hunter" kind movie depicting the affects of the war on people but nonetheless for me it is a powerful and moving war movie with very human touch to it. Any moviegoer interested in quality cinema must see this.