Stalingrad (1993)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Joseph Vilsmaier

Writers:

Jürgen Büscher (writer)
Johannes Heide (writer)

Release Date:

21 January 1993 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

Bis zum letzten Mann... (Till the last man)

Plot:

A depiction of the brutal battle of Stalingrad, the Third Reich's 'high water mark', as seen through...

Plot Keywords:

Stalingrad | German | Gunfire | Gunshot Wound | German Soldier

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Dominique Horwitz	...	Obergefreiter Fritz Reiser
Thomas Kretschmann	...	Lt. Hans von Witzland
Jochen Nickel	...	Unteroffizier Manfred Rohleder
Sebastian Rudolph	...	GeGe Müller
Dana Vávrová	...	Irina
Martin Benrath	...	Gen. Hentz
Sylvester Groth	...	Otto
Karel Hermánek	...	Capt. Hermann Musk
Heinz Emigholz	...	Edgar Emigholz
Ferdinand Schuster	...	Double Edgar
Oliver Broumis	...	HGM
Dieter Okras	...	Capt. Haller
Zdenek Vencl	...	Wölk
Mark Kuhn	...	Sgt. Pflüger
Thorsten Bolloff	...	Feldmann

Runtime:

134 min | Argentina:135 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German | Russian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Norway:15 | South Korea:15 | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Finland:K-16 | Germany:12 (f) (w) | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | Portugal:M/16

Filming Locations:

Italy

Company:

B.A. Produktion

Trivia:

The original screenplay was written by Christoph Fromm but the producers disagreed with his more realistic direction and had it rewritten. Consequently, Fromm took his name of the film.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the German soldier in a trench fires his MP-40 up at the T-34 about to run him over, the bullet puffs appear in the snow next to it as though the gun is fired from an elevation above the tank.

Quotes:

One German foot soldier: Where are the horses?
Another German foot soldier: We're the horses!

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 100 Greatest War Films (2005) (TV)

Brutal, heartbreaking, & realistic portrayal of the bloodiest battle ever fought.

I first saw Stalingrad about 7 years ago and to this day it still hits me as hard as the first time I watched it. It is the story of Leutnant von Witzland, Unteroffizier Rohleder, Obergefreiter Reiser, and Oberschütze Müller and their desperate fight for survival in the deadliest battle in the history of war: STALINGRAD. The film starts off in Italy in the summer of 1942 where their platoon is resting following heavy combat in North Africa. Soon they are on a train heading for the Eastern Front. The men of 1st Platoon laugh and joke, play games, write letters home, and enjoy the view of western Russia as they head for the Ukraine. This is as light-hearted as the film gets. What follows is a very accurate and graphic portrayal of the infamous battle. It pulls no punches. It's main antagonist is Hauptmann Haller, a field police officer who thinks nothing of allowing his men to abuse and murder Russian and Ukrainian prisoners. At one point he lines up a group of civilians and has them shot saying they were partisans.

The combat scenes themselves are even more horrific. In one scene a German soldier hits a Russian over the head with a shovel as the Russian is trying to kill Ltn. von Witzland. In another scene a German soldier is cut in half by a Russian tank shell. There are many other gruesome scenes in the film, but they are necessary. The world has to see what happened in the Battle of Stalingrad. To see its brutality. To have its heart broken at the horrendous waste of the soldiers' lives. Over 2 million people lost there lives. Only 6000 of Field Marshal Paulus' 250,000-man 6th Army survived the battle. As with the battle, the film itself does not have a happy ending. And that's the way it should be. And as you watch this film, remember one thing, not every German soldier who fought in the war was a criminal. They were mostly decent people caught up in events well beyond their control.