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THE WINTER WAR (Talvisota)

THE WINTER WAR (Talvisota)

List Price: $45.00
Your Price: $45.00
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent & Historically Accurate
Review: The Winter War is the most historically accurate and realistic war film I have seen. During the film, we follow the lives of a small group of friends as they find themselves in the frontlines facing a soviet invasion. All aspects of the movie are well conceived and finely filmed. The best aspect of the Winter War, however, is the fact that there are no underlying subplots. Unlike Saving Private Ryan (which I must admit I also thought was excellent), the characters do not spend the movie attempting to accomplish an unlikely (albeit intellectually satisfying) objective. Rather, the characters try to stay alive, protect their friends, and follow orders as real soldiers might.

Another very compelling aspect of the film is it's historical accuracy. Tactics and equipment all correspond to those employed by Russia and Finland in 1939. T-26 tanks, I-16 fighters, and human wave attacks fill out the Russian Arsenal, while the Fins remain on the defensive aside from local counter attacks. Adding to the realism is the fact that much of movie is filmed in a limited geographic area. This allows the viewer to become familiar with local terrain features in a way that few other films permit. Hence, the viewer begins to sense the directions from which attacks might come and beings to get a feeling of what constitutes a "Full-scale Attack," a "Probe," etc.

Overall, I would highly recommend the Winter War to anyone who enjoys war films or who is interested in Military History. Due to the lack of subplots, however, people simply looking for an action film or for a simple diversion are likely to be disappointed.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wow! What a fantastic movie!
Review: This has to be one of the better war movies of all time. It's a shame that it isn't better known in the US. The battle scenes are fantastic, making you feel like you're a part of the action. What this must have been like on the big screen! This movie follows a Finnish company from mobilization to war's end, with plenty of action and some leave in between. The numbers of people involved, from the Russian wave attacks to the marching soldiers, is also seldom seen these days. Overall, it's an excellent film.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: This is a very good movie about Finnish troops trying to repel the massive Soviet invasion of Finland in the early part of World War II. It has many tense, gut-wrenching battle scenes and some interesting, admirable characters. Some parts are almost heart-stopping, including outnumbered Finnish troops watching huge numbers of Soviets attacking their trenches, and Finns going out in the open to stop the Soviet tanks. Other scenes of soldiers visiting their families behind the lines are also effective.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great combat scenes but some boring parts
Review: This is an okay movie. It tells the extremely dramatic story of Finnland's heroic resistance against the Soviet invasion of 1939 (this, by the way, is one of the things that the Russians would like you to forget about when they assert that they essentially won World War II on their own).

Anyway, the combat scenes are impressive for a film made in 1989. However, unless you speak Finnish, you're likely to get bored and start pressing the fast forward buttton when Talvisota gives you a series of verbose scenes at the beginning that last almost a half hour. There are several shorter (mercifully) interruptions punctuating the combat.

I've often wondered why Hollywood has never made a film about the brave fight that the Finns put up against the Russians. It would seem to me that the story would have the same appeal that "Braveheart" did. But then, I'm not a Hollywood producer.

The bottom line: If you can't rent it, I'd recommend buying it used (like I did). It simply isn't worth 45 dollars brand new.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great!
Review: This is the best and most realistic war movie ever made. Buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it NOW! Note: You will enjoy this movie more if you speak Finnish. The subtitles fail to capture all the nuances of the language. So if you speak Finnish buy this movie, now, buy it now. Add this to your shopping cart. Saving Private who?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: True story
Review: This is true story of Finnish soldiers. Actions take place in Taipale. They are men who defend Finland in Mannerheim line.
25000 Finnish soldiers and 300000 Soviet Union soldiers died in that war. It last's only 105 days. It was 1939-1940.

Facts about winter war:http://www.winterwar.com/mainpage.htm

They now sell this movie in full lenght DVD, with * 3 h 11 min * WS 14/9 * DD Surround in Finnish * Subtitles: SUOMI, English, Swedish. * R0 PAL, and there is also some extras.

http://www.filmifriikki.fi/

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The War is the hell on Earth
Review: This movie depicts all the crudeness and fierness of the war. It's the story of a group of friends set in the middle of the Soviet invasion of 1939. Perhaps this story isn't widely known because the Soviets were "good guys" during the WWII and the finnishs seem to be related with Germany (they all wear german uniforms, helmets and equipment) but the true is that this movie show us that Findland is victim of a Soviet aggression and all the men must abandon their lives in order to defend their families, women and homes (we all know how barbaric the russians were, they always took the women as a war loot)

Give a chance to the movie, it begins somewhat boring, but it's because we are introduced to the surroundings and lives of these young finnishs men, once that the war begins, it all is the hell on Earth.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Talvisota
Review: This movie is a must see for any WWII buff. It shows how the Soviet Union forced Finland into WWII and the brave defense of Finland by a small poorly outfitted force. See how Finland managed to rout the Soviet army and retain its independence, unlike its baltic neighbors.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Winter War (VHS)
Review: This movie will appear to die-hard war movie fans since it has lots of realistic action. The Russo-Finish War is not known by many people; this movie does a good job by showing the viewer how lopsided the numbers were between the two armies. My only gripe with the movie is the quality of the tape. Quite often it has a grainy look to it that was annoying. I could tell immediately that this was not a big bucks US production.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good movie about a little known war
Review: This was a war that the Soviet Union waged on Finland in the winter of 1939 to gain access to a port. They got quite a shock when they were met by extremely stiff resistance. This movie chronicles a group of friends who go together to the front to fight. This is a tough bunch of guys, but they never lose their humanity, like most of the nazi soldiers did. The Soviet forces were lacking leadership due to the fact that Stalin had decimated their ranks in one of his insane paranoid murderous purges. This is the war that convinced Hitler that the Soviets would crumble when his army attacked them. The film does have a kind of washed out, grainy look, a little more than Saving Private Ryan did, but that didn't detract from the movie. It kind of emphasized the bleakness those men were facing. This movie has great battle action sequences, and I'll bet if there were environmentalists on the set, they'd have all had heart attacks because of the number of trees that were destroyed by tanks and artillary. This movie isn't hampered by contrived plots, like SPR, or unnecessary love triangles, like what is in Enemy at the Gates (which is a good movie in every other respect). The only quibble I have with this movie is that the subtitles were sometimes hard to read and the English wasn't always correct (but that was kind of comical).


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