Stalingrad

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Summary: ?
Review: This isn't a review this is more of a request for information about the film. By reading the other reviews I can tell that the film has at least 2 good battles. But does this film center around the Germans being freezing cold and starving to death? Or does it center around the Germans trying to get out of this situation? Iam sorry but I don't want to purchase a movie that I can only stand to sit through it once. Iam just not a fan of depressing films, but if it is a depressing film, and it does contain plentyful action scenes kind of like "Saving Private Ryan", I would appreciate if someone would elaborate on this.

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Summary: DVD version does have subtitles!
Review: Just a correction to an earlier reviewer who complained that the DVD, unlike the VHS version, lacked subtitles. That's simply not true; the default playback mode (for region 1 discs) is with German dialog and English subtitles.

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Summary: Very Believable, Excellent Story
Review: This is one of the best War movies I have ever seen. Having read Anthony Beevor's book on Stalingrad, as well as others about the German Army, I can tell you that the movie is quite historically accurate. Almost everything that happens in the movie is believeable and there is great attention to detail (if you excuse the Russian later model T-34's in the movie). The special effects are a little amatuerish by Hollywood standards, but the story makes up for it. The ending is appropriate for the battle as well.

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Summary: Bring on the Sequel: "Kursk"
Review: OK, I have read all the reviews at present, so there is not much to add; however, I offer the following comments for the sequel (I hope the film makers will make a sequel about the Batte of Kursk -I thought it was a fine movie, but):

1. The T34's in the "Tank Attack" (Company size) were a later model that did not appear for another 6-8 months. The movie uses the long barreled 85mm T-34. The T-34's should have been of the short, 76mm type. 2. The street fighting scene (toward the beginning of the movie) did not seem realistic: the German's were master's of small unit tactics; ie, they would have gone thru the buildings, blasting holes thru walls - rather than charge a factory out in the open (in a kill zone)on a wide street enclosed by 4-6 story buildings...that charge alone removed roughly 75% of the attack force. 3. There was a lack of German heavy weapon support, where were the MG-34's? - every 10 man squad had, in theory 2 MG-34's (or MG-42's). 4. It might sound odd to us American's but the German's officer's were far more concerned about the loss rate in such attacks...I think the harsh comments made about the 'Captains' reflected a stereotypical view of German leadership. The bonding between grunt and low ranked officers was much, much tighter. OVERALL A FINE WWII Flick.

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Summary: One of the best WWII movies I have ever seen.
Review: While there are some downsides to this movie, the upsides are much more prominent. The characters are good, men in an impossible situation, and how they cope. One of the reasons I love this movie is it is not a hollywood movie in any way. The actors have real faces, Fritz has the best ears you will ever see in a movie, not the hollywood 'perfect' 90210 mugs. The battle scenes are tremendous, well planed and executed. While the ending does get a bit preachy, the fact of the matter is, it is true. War is hell, and this battle was the 7th level of hell. Those of us sitting in our nice warm TV rooms cannot understand in any way how these men lived during the Battle of Stalingrad. The cold was worse than the enemy. I really liked this movie better than Saving Private Ryan, as it ommitted the ending with the 'Hero saves everybody with his sacrifice' Hollywood formula. For these men, there was no way out but death and capture, and quite frankly capture was worse than death. The hoplessness of the Battle is almost a mirror for the hoplessness of the war from that point on, the back of the German Army was broken at Stalingrad. Overall, a great movie, one that everybody, especially those interesting in WWII, should see.

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Summary: Good, but too much anti-war preaching
Review: This is a good movie, with some good action and character development, but overdoes it on the anti-war propaganda side. It's still good, just expect some preaching, and the heros to be deserters, etc. If you want a better war movie, see _The Winter War_.

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Summary: Good but a little bit unrealistic
Review: This is good DVD, taken into account that it's not a Hollywood stuff. Anyway all battles are shown very well, not like SPR but they are enough to keep your interest. One thing I didn't like is the russians, actually pseudo-russians, who were poor actors and spoke with very distinctive german accent (belive me, I am from former Soviet Union). But anyway, if you want to see the war from the eyes of german soldiers, go ahead buy this movie.

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Summary: Possibly the best war movie
Review: We are spoon fed history so most people don't know the largest war tank and ground troop battles where in the east and didn't even involve the Americans we just tilted the scales so Germany could be over run also the bloodiest battle of the war was probably not Stalingrad but the inhalation of east Prussia by the Bolsheviks just find a pre-WW11 map and you will find a large portion of Germany disappeared cities and all a good book on this is called the vanished kingdom I would like to see this made into a movie but we are selective with history so I'm not holding my breath.

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Summary: Good combat scenes but only a fair movie overall
Review: First, this film has some of the best (but brief) combat scenes in any war film ever made, especially the assault on the factory early in the film ("Mir Noch!") and the German defensive position holding out against a Russian T-34 attack.

However, the "war is hell" message is beat into you at every corner. While that is the message of every good war movie, others like A Bridge Too Far, Die Brücke, and Das Boot portray that point just as well but tell a far better story than this. This film jumps from scene to scene without really making us care about the men involved and every German officer above the rank of Lieutenant is sadistic. I think their portrayal of the German leadership as evil is a coping mechanism for the Germans to help them deal with the war. But why beat that message into our heads with a sledge hammer? A truely great German war movie, Das Boot, did a wonderful job portraying the average German soldier's attitude towards men like Hitler without using flashing neon signs to do it and that is the true mark of a good film.

Of the three major war movies filmed in Germany that I've seen, this one is the worst. If you really want to see a good German anti-war film, get Das Boot or Die Brücke. Leave this one on the shelf.

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Summary: Graphic, Powerful, Thought Provoking
Review: Stalingrad was released in Germany to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the momentous battle. The film was well attended in Germany, where emotions run deep on this event; many Germans still have connections to the half million men who died in the battle. Previously, the same film makers produced Das Boot, an excellent and award winning film that received limited distribution in the U.S. Stalingrad is not as good a film as Das Boot. Perhaps for this reason it was not given any significant distribution in the U.S. The film has a cliched storyline, and an anti-climatic ending. The characters seem to be a German version of every war character you've ever seen; the sadistic officer, the countryboy common soldier, etc, and the anti-war slant is familiar. And yet, the movie has a power that is hard to deny, and it is very rare to consider ordinary Germans as equal victims of Hitler as everyone else. In this movie you get the real sense that the average German soldier, though loyal to his country, was ashamed of his cause, and felt victimized by his circumstances. It's easy to see why this film was popular in Germany. And it is because the film dares to present us with another consideration of the people who got caught up in the war, in this case the Germans who became soldiers, that it's important. The footage is graphic, the battle scenes as good as any filmed, the story cliched but thought provoking - it's for these reasons I would recommend the film.