is there. Our sons are there.
Is that thunder?
- Going home?
- Yes.
For long?
There was more time, but now it's just
for a night. My leave ends at dawn.
How awful.
A whole night at home--
you're very lucky!
Do you have a girlfriend?
Yes.
Only she's not in Sosnovka.
I lost her.
Save the children! The children!
Step aside, soldier.
- Get out of the way.
- Good-for-nothing.
Comrades, I already told you:
We're only taking
wounded women and children.
Everyone else will have
to stay behind and wait.
A train will be here
in exactly two hours.
Yes, Grandma, in two hours.
Two hours!
Have you lost your head?
Are you tired of living?
Friend! Take me to Sosnovka!
- I can't.
- It's only 10 kilometers.
I told you, I can't.
I've come from the front to see my mother.
I'll hug her and go right back.
And I should go to the slammer
because of you? Get off!.
To hell with you! You pig!
Girls, that was Katerina's boy,
Alyosha!
- Katerina's in the fields.
- Go get her-- quickly!
You're back, Alexei Nikolaevich.
Zoika.
I didn't recognize you.
Do you know where my mother is?
- In the fields.
Have a seat and rest.
Have a bit of tea
until Aunt Katya gets here.
I can't. I have to go now.
A car is waiting for me.
- Now?
- Now. Right this minute.
But what aboutAunt Katya?
- She's not here. Let's go to the fields.
- They'll send me to jail!
- It's on the way.
- It's right nearby.
They're gonna get me
for this anyway. Let's go!
Alyosha!
You've come back, my son.
You've made your mother happy.
I've been waiting,
thinking about everything--
- How are you, Mama?
- Like everyone else.
I'm going through the war.
Work is hard.
There are no men-- all women.
My dear, you've come back.
Alyosha, have you seen Ivan?
- When is the war going to end?
- Leave him alone. He just got back.
Let's go, Alyosha.
You can have a bite to eat and rest.
- Wait, Mama. I'm in a rush.
- Where are you rushing to?
I have to travel on.
I'm just stopping by for a minute.
What do you mean, son?
- I don't understand.
- I have to go. Right now.
Let's just talk for a moment.
I wanted to fix the roof.
You've grown. You're so thin.
It's just from the trip.
You're not sick, are you, Mama?
I don't have time to be sick.
Are you shaving already?
Do you smoke?
I have to go.
I won't let you!
- Forgive me, Mama.
- For what, Alyosha?
Forgive me, Mama.
What's wrong, Alyosha?
I'll survive. I'll get by.
I'll wait for you to come home.
I didn't wait for your father,
but I'll wait for you.
Alyosha! Have you seen Ivan
on the front?
When is the war going to end?
I'll be back, Mama!
That's all we have to tell you
about our friendAlyosha Skvortsov.
He could have become
a remarkable man.
He could have become a builder
or beautified the land with gardens.
He was, and in our memory
will forever remain, a soldier...
a Russian soldier.Script by V. Yezhov and G. Chukhrai
Directed by G. Chukhrai
Photography by
V. Nikolaev and E. Savelyeva
Starring:
Alyosha - Vladimir Ivashov
Shura - Zhanna Prokhorenko
(c) 1959 MOSFILM
This is the road to town.
Those who leave our village,
and those who later return
to their birthplace,
walk along this road.
She's not waiting for anyone.
The one she used to wait for,
her son Alyosha,
did not return from the war.
He's buried far from his birthplace,
near a town with a foreign name.
Strangers bring flowers to his grave.
They call him a Russian soldier,
a hero, a liberator.
But to her he was simply a son,
about whom she knew everything
from the day he was born
to the day he left
along this road for the front.
He was our friend.
We will tell his story,
a story not everyone knows...
not even her... his mother.
BALLAD OF A SOLDIER
- That's it! Let's go!
- But what about reporting?
You want to report
from the next world? Scram!
Eagle! Eagle! I see tanks!
Eagle! Eagle! Do you