Sounds rather like Waterloo Road which still turns up on Film 4 quite often
I watched a film a few years ago on Ch4 when they would show old b&w films during the day. It was about a young chap, about to go off to fight in the war and he just wanted to get home one more time to say goodbye to his loved ones. It was based over a like a day and he was being chased by the army police across war scarred London - through old burned down buildings, across slum areas, into old pubs etc. Locals would try to hide him while the police looked for him. In the end (I think) he managed to see his loved one, but he ended up going off with the army police who thought he was deserting, but he just wanted to say goodbye one more time....
Any ideas anyone?
Sounds rather like Waterloo Road which still turns up on Film 4 quite often