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Summary: Thanks to the other reviewers for recommending this
Review: A powerful, non-Hollywood, non-moviestar movie that leaves you feeling overwhelmed and numb, as indeed the battle of Stalingrad should. I'm so used to History Channel documentaries that I missed sweeping vistas of the city or of thousands of troops marching across the snowy steppes. Instead this film portrayed the Eastern Front on a totally personal level, as it followed the lives of a small group of soldiers. For a great companion book, please try the Forgotten Soldier. It's also about a German soldier on the Eastern Front and was highly recommended by our fellow reviewers. Next time you're outside on a freezing cold day, subtract 40 degrees and pretend your warm house or car is not closeby, but rather thousands of miles away, and we're perhaps an inch closer to what it may have been like. You'll feel the cold as you watch this movie...BRRRR.
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Summary: war is a cold , de-humanizing hell...
Review: EXCELLENT!!!
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Summary: A thought-provoking film about an unheard battle
Review: A terrific film which portrays the epitome of total war, and the people that live through it. Perhaps the best part about this film is the neutral portrayal of the German forces, who experience atrocious suffering in their encircled positions. With great battle scenes, and even better characters, this movie is easily one of the best. The ending is a particularily influential scene, showing perhaps the lone soldiers which are left to die in the cold trying to find salvation from a war which took so many lives and changed so many others.
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Summary: A potent but slightly impersonal "men in war" story
Review: Stalingrad is the story of a group of men in a German infantry company who join the siege of Stalingrad during World War Two. The lieutenant in command is young and somewhat idealistic, and after arriving in the battered city immediately senses (as does the viewer) that the battle he and his men are to join is quite different than his experience has prepared him for. We follow the lieutenant and a handful of these men as they fight street to street in the ruins. The horrors of combat are brought to life with unflinching frankness. As the film progresses the battle becomes more desperate and conditions for the men become more and more primitive, almost in sync with the approach of the Russian winter. After the German sixth army becomes trapped, the fight becomes one not subduing their communist foes, but of maintaining their self respect and honor. Systematically the men see all of the institutions they had believed in crumble. The handful of men that we get acquainted with (including the lieutenant) become sentenced to a penal battalion after one of them tries to seek preferential treatment for an injured friend at their makeshift infirmary. They are then required to execute innocent prisoners, and make a suicidal stand against Russian tanks on the frozen steppe. Near the end of the film the remaining survivors plot to escape the death trap that the siege has become, and desert, relinquishing their vows of loyalty to their cause. Their only cause now being one of survival. The most memorable scene in this film depicts the hordes of soldiers, deserters and wounded mobbing to get aboard an overladen transport plane, as it begins to taxi forward amidst the chaos. The vast majority are left behind in the snow and sounds of the trampled wounded, the lieutenant and his comrades among them. This film is powerful in terms of realism, but lacks slightly in regards to character development. It is good film for those who enjoy gritty unflowery war films.
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Summary: Good, but not great
Review: When I first saw this film, I was blown away. In hindsight (and compared to more recent films), it is not as impressive. The plot is a bit predictable (the female Russian soldier was a tad too much). But the battle in the snow against the tanks still ranks as one of the best choreographed battles in film. Still a good film about an awful chapter in history.
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Summary: Simply the best!!
Review: The best war movie about the German Army. All war movie lovers and history lovers will love this movie. Realy feel the cold the soldiers are in!
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Summary: A perfect portrayal of what began the end for the Nazis.
Review: This movie tells the story of the battle of Stalingrad from the German grunt's point of view. Having been in the Marines for six years, with a degree in history, I found it to be very realistic. It does not glorify war, but rather vividly shows the uncertainties and hadships of it. Stalingrad is probably the bloodiest battle the world will ever see. This was the place where the Soviets decided that they would not take another step back, no matter what the cost. This attitude was what halted the Nazi advance and helped to end WWII much sooner than if the Soviets had fallen back, yet another time. Stalingrad depicts how well the Soviet mindset eventually gave the attacking Germans an impending sense of doom. The best quote of the movie is when a German officer tells an enlisted man that he is not a Nazi. The enlisted man's reply is(something everyone should hear), "I know, you officers are worse. You went along with everything, when you knew a madman was doing all of this(not the exact quote, but to that effect)."
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Summary: A good war movie
Review: Since I saw this movie after seeing Saving Private Ryan, I thought that most of the battles in the movie could not match the Spielberg's well-staged battles. However, what is great about this movie is not the battles (some of them are quite gruesome,) but its depiction of the doomed humans who lived and died during the battle of Stalingrad. The movie continues to build up until its devastating ending. The final scenes are just excellent. Then why didn't I give 5 stars to this DVD version of the movie? It's because the DVD lacks the goodies that I expect these days (background, etc.) The DVD transfer is acceptable, but not very sharp. There is also no liner notes.
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Summary: A boring and understated movie
Review: Stalingrad was the turning point on the eastern front, but you'd never know that watching this movie. Focused largely on rivalries between German soldiers and their commanders, it largely ignores the hell of facing the Russian armies from the front trenches, foxholes, and bunkers. The valor on both sides is so understated that his movie seems to echo more of a skirmish than an epic struggle.Photography is very good and the acting also rates well. The plot, with no chapter stops or time stops, plods along aimlessly.
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Summary: otstanding film on the horrors of war
Review: this German film about the horrific battle for the Soviet city of Stalingrad is one of the most powerful war films I have ever seen, the filmmakers have obviously been influenced by the American films about Vietnam. In this film the Germans are the Americans and the Russians are the Vietnamese, as each side is locked in a futile effort to stop the other. The German soldiers are portrayed in a realistic manner, not in some stereotyped fashion. My only problem with the film is that it seems to copy American Vietnam war films so fully.
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