Well, about Chukhrai's "Thief", I.M.H.O. it's a qualitative piece of work, but nothing more. I saw it once, and it was enough for me. Same about Mikhalkov's "Burned by the Sun". The same odd piece of crafts made specially for film festivals and so. Rockmom, if you want to see a really good movie with the post-war background, I recommend you "A meeting place can't be changed" series by Stanislav Govorukhin. Vladimir Vysotsky, a cult figure of the late-Soviet period played one of the main roles there. I.M.H.O it's one of the best Vysotsky's cinema roles, so the series are worth seeing only for that reason.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImeK_EUu314

(birubir uploaded whole series on youtube, it's only a link to the first part of the first episode).