A group of Russian soldiers fight to hold a strategic building in their devastated city against a ruthless German army, and in the process become deeply connected to two Russian women who have been living there.
The story follows a group of German soldiers, from their Italian R&R in the summer of 1942 to the frozen steppes of Soviet Russia and ending with the battle for Stalingrad.
Director:
Joseph Vilsmaier
Stars:
Dominique Horwitz,
Thomas Kretschmann,
Jochen Nickel
Great Patriotic War, early 1940s. After barely surviving a battle with a mysterious, ghostly-white Tiger tank, Red Army Sergeant Ivan Naydenov becomes obsessed with its destruction.
Stalingrad has become hell and paradise for those who were worthy of awards, but the only reward they managed to get was love. How they won, and how they were not defeated, who they were and who was on the other side of the street, what secret they have taken away with them - the movie will tell this story.Written by
Iliya Tilkin
The original script by Ilya Tilkin has no literary source. Tilkin studied museum archives as well as the diaries of the Stalingrad Battle participants to write the script. Some parts of Vasiliy Grossman's "Life and Fate" were used for a few scenes. See more »
Goofs
When the Germans begin firing mortars, you see one of them drop a round down the tube, then place his hand over the muzzle for a moment. This is an unthinkable act for any soldier - as soon as the round reaches the firing pin at the bottom of the tube, it will fire, and any fingers over the muzzle will be on their way to the target. Any soldier with even basic mortar experience will know to keep his hand moving downward as soon as he lets go of the round. Firing a mortar is a pretty intense experience, and the muzzle is the most dangerous part of the weapon (for the person firing it), and it is just natural to keep your fingers away as much as possible. A soldier firing a mortar as depicted in the movie will only get a couple of rounds off before he runs out of hands. See more »
WWII gets the 300 treatment as our fantastic heroes defeat the nasty Germans, sometimes single handedly killing a dozen men each in slow motion blood spraying hand to hand combat. It's that realistic, especially as Russians apparently keep fighting even when completely consumed by flames.
The defenders of Stalingrad were courageous real people but this belittles them as two dimensional action heroes.
A lot of effort and budget was put into making this but it was ill spent, there is no reflection, no feeling, no humanity, it is hollow. If you want to see a film about Stalingrad look up the earlier German film.
46 of 67 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
WWII gets the 300 treatment as our fantastic heroes defeat the nasty Germans, sometimes single handedly killing a dozen men each in slow motion blood spraying hand to hand combat. It's that realistic, especially as Russians apparently keep fighting even when completely consumed by flames.
The defenders of Stalingrad were courageous real people but this belittles them as two dimensional action heroes.
A lot of effort and budget was put into making this but it was ill spent, there is no reflection, no feeling, no humanity, it is hollow. If you want to see a film about Stalingrad look up the earlier German film.