After Stalin died, Khrushchev denounced him in started allowing more artistic freedom (this era was known as the "thaw"). Probably the two best results film-wise were "Letyat zhuravli" ("The Cranes are Flying" in English) and "Ballada o soldate" ("Ballad of a Soldier" in English). The latter portrays Pvt. Alyosha Skvortsov (Vladimir Ivashov) getting a leave of absence during WWII so that he can visit his mother. He travels across the countryside, meets various people, and falls in love with Shura (Zhanna Prokhorenko), a young woman whom he meets on a train.<br /><br />One of the interesting things about this movie is that it starts by telling the audience that Alyosha got killed in WWII. Even though we know throughout the whole movie that he eventually gets killed (which the movie doesn't show), we always root for him. The movie in fact begins in the same place where it started. The opening shows a road in Alyosha's home town, and the last scene shows him walking down the road after seeing his mother. We don't find out how he gets killed, we just know that he is a hero for his country.<br /><br />All in all, a great movie.