Stalingrad

Rating:
Summary: Cast of Dozens
Review: To be sure, with 95% of all war movies being garbage, this is a good flick. However, it lost its opportunity for greatness when it passed on being the portrait of a decisive turning point in the world's greatest conflict. Obviously done on a tight budget with limited research, most of the battle sequences are shot nearsighted in scale so few tanks and actors are needed. Street fighting is limited to one brief episode in a factory. The added intrigue of the evil German officer (something out of an Indiana Jones flick) was out of place as well as being inaccurate for that period of the war (that crap started after Hitler's assassination, years later). Missing is the overconfidence and arrogance that turns to surprise and shock with the German's facing their first defeat. Another omission is the bitter determination displayed by well-trained career soldiers who knew they weren't leaving alive. In this film the Germans come off as a retagged bunch of draftees just waiting to lose.

Rating:
Summary: Don't forget the gal
Review: I've scanned about 40 of the reviews below and none of them seemed to mention the rather implausible plot element of the beautiful Russian girl (with a German mother) whose life is spared by a handful of German soldiers, and who is shot down as she, in turn, tries to lead them to safety (??) somewhere out on the steppe. This element was quite a surprising fall from the fairly carefully rendered combat sequences that reviewers describe.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: There are few movies around which really deal with war on the Eastern front during WW2, of those which I have seen this is definitley the best.

We follow a group of soldiers through the hell of the battle that was Stalingrad through this very nicely shot film, which really smacks you in the face with the horror of war. One scene which really reached out and grabbed me was Pitomnik Airfield, where we see the mad and desperate frenzy of wounded and dying soldiers trying to get aboard one of the planes, their only hope of salvation from the Kessel. It was exactly how I imagined it while reading Stalingrad by Antony Beevor.

This movie also closes with one of the most desolate and dark scenes ever I think, the remnants of the group having failed at their miserable attempt to escape the Kessel, sitting and freezing in the open Steppe, just waiting to die.

Simply harrowing stuff and I highly recommend this to all.

Rating:
Summary: Astounding in every way
Review: There were several scenes in this movie that made me feel awe-inspired by it.

For one, it has some of the most gruesome albeit realistic urban warfare scenes that I've ever watched.

For another, it has one of the most harrowing battle scenes I've watched on film. The scene I speak about is when the main characters fight off a Russian armor unit - the minute those tanks roll out into the open field and then turn to face our heroes...you can feel your heart sink deep into your stomach.

It also has one of the most touching endings I've ever seen. Yes, I will proudly admit, I cried during this movie. The factors of character and the different personalities are well achieved, and even if maybe the German attack on Russia wasn't a good thing, you can't help but feel for the men who had to fight it (in fact, study German military history and you'll find out the majority of military officers in the German army DIDN'T want the war).

It is not a play by play historical drama of the Battle of Stalingrad, however, it manages to capture many aspects of the battle just by following the characters through their campaign: you see the urban fighting, the sewer systems, the Russian attacks, and even the aweful affair of evacuation (and how men with influence got away while men with out it were left behind to die).

In portraying the worse defeat in German military history, this film accomplishes its task on all fronts.

Rating:
Summary: Dramatic, yet influenced by political correctness
Review: I find Stalingrad highly recommendable to anyone interested in a battle that has - with some justification - been regarded as the psychological turning point in a war of attrition between two dictatorships.

Having an army background (military infantry officer) myself, I found great pleasure in watching an infantry platoon "at work" (if you pardon the expression), instead of following a larger unit abstractly. The platoon level provides an excellent opportunity to comprehend life and interaction in a small unit literally under fire. Which the platoon in question certainly is.

In "Stalingrad", I very much appreciated the dramatic way in which the platoon's different phases were described: The relaxation inbetween battles in Italy; the gathering of the battalion and its subsequent departure for Russia; the journey through Russia; the arrival in Stalingrad; the first encounter; the mounting casualties; the conflict between the men on the ground and certain superiors; the uncertainty; the battle fatigue; the chaos; and the ubiquitous and inevitable death.

The actors are splendid, their conversations frank and spontaneous.

However, the reason for only suggesting 4 out of 5 stars is the political correctness inherent in "Stalingrad". On several occasions (for example, during the battle break in the city when both parties send out people to get their wounded, and in the conversations between the platoon leader and the Russo-German woman-prisoner) we are reminded of how unjust the war was, how badly the Germans behaved in Russia and how innocent the attacked Russian were. These incidents are, to be honest, rather pathetic, but luckily not to an extent that completely ruins the general impression of "Stalingrad".

No doubt - the Wehrmacht did indisputedly commit atrocities in the Soviet Union during WW II. But I would have liked the movie to mention the Soviet atrocities as well, both against German troops as well as ITS OWN civilian population. The movie seems to portray the Soviet Union as the innocent victim of German aggression, which it was clearly not: WW II started mainly because Britain declared war on Germany after the attack of the latter on Poland 01 September 1939. But for some "strange" reason, Britain forgot all about declaring war on the Soviets, although the Soviets attacked Poland from the east following the Molotov-Ribbentrop treaty.

Germany lost the war, and its conquerors quickly imposed on it a feeling of guilt that may have seemed partly justified in 1945, but which still - as can be seen in "Stalingrad" - haunts movie-making in Germany.

Let me emphasise that the aforementioned political correctness in no way makes the movie bad - but its omission would undoubtedly have motivated the undersigned to suggest all five stars instead of four.

If you liked Das Boot, you will surely like Stalingrad too. I blame neither author nor director of Stalingrad for the political correctness; that ghost is still too firmly rooted in German psyche to be forgotten and omitted in movies about the controversial phase of European history from 1939 to 1945.

Rating:
Summary: Comment on first review
Review: While the review is good, I might just point out one minor but significant error, which actually makes the film bear worse on the Heer (Army).
The soldier beating the Russian POW was NOT Waffen-SS. He did not wear W-SS markings (black insignia etc). He was in fact a member of the FeldPolizei or military police, who managed the rear areas.
Therefore he was a member of the Army, and not the SS. There were no SS units anywhere near Stalingrad, except for SS-Wiking division 500 miles to the south. The W-SS at this stage were not numerous enough to be ubiquitous (and never were).
The act in the film shows the Heer to be deeply implicated in the mistreatment of the populace and prisoners. For those wishing to be shocked, read Omer Bartov's book on the barbarisation of the German Army in the East.
The film demonstrates how deeply isolated an oficer from a backround like Von Witzland's could be. Many officers closed their eyes or privately lamented the excesses of the troops, their fellow officers and their superiors. The Russian's fought as hard as they did, not just out of fear of the regime, but because the whole bent of the German war-effort in the east was genocidal.

Rating:
Summary: Gritty war film seen thru German eyes
Review: I'd heard about this film a few years ago, so I picked it up and watched it with my two boys.

It was interesting to see WWII from the German side of things, especially their view of the Russian Front, an idiom all-too-often imagined by us Americans, rather than seen or experienced.

*Stalingrad* follows a German lieutenant and his squad from their R&R in Italy to their ultimate deployment in the longest, largest and most costly battle of the war. The other recent film about this battle, *Enemy at the Gate* is a slicker production with a bigger budget and recognizable stars. But it catches only brief glimpses of the situation's intractable desperation. *Stalingrad* packs more emotion and spirit, its protagonists more real, more flesh and blood than *EATG*. There is no romantic subplot to distract from the Germans' struggle against their two inevitable foes---the Russian soldier and the Russian winter.

As they change from an elite and well-equipped Storm Trooper unit to becoming a rag-tag band of starving deserters, they search for a safe haven in a world where everything else is the enemy.

The squad unsuccessfully grapples with contradiction while Humanity takes a backseat to the German War Machine. One message is made clear: the German soldiers possess far more compassion than the Nazis.

*Stalingrad* has lots of blood and guts a la *Saving Private Ryan*. Although Stalingrad's battle-gore FX are far less realistic than those employed by SPR, it's not for the squeamish viewer.

My sons and I were emotionally affected by this film. We saw how War is not always fought on bright summer days and is not as glorious a pursuit as we may have imagined. But most of all we learned that our enemies aren't all Nazis or zealots or villains. The poor fellows freezing in the trenches are human beings just like us.

Rating:
Summary: The True Horrors of War
Review: This is by far one of the best war movies ever made.

The theme of the movie is well woven with the plot in representing the bleak conditions under which both Germans and Soviets found themselves during the turning point of German offensive against Russia. It touches the viewer in depicting how war dehumanizes all to the point of base nihilism.

The battle scenes are brilliantly directed and are as intense as those directed by Spielberg in Saving Private Ryan or those shown in the series Band of Brothers. If you liked either of these for their accuracy, realism and intensity, you will definitely like this movie.

Rating:
Summary: A Good If Not Inspired Production
Review: * The movie STALINGRAD, as its title indicates, is a narrative about the
battle of Stalingrad, the confrontation between the German Wehrmacht and the
Red Army from the late summer of 1942 to early 1943 that resulted in the
destruction of the entire German 6th Army.

STALINGRAD is a fictionalized portrayal of the battle. It does not try to
construct a formal history of the battle and pays little attention to
important historical characters. It instead focuses on a company of German

soldiers involved in the battle.

On the plus side, STALINGRAD is an excellent production, with fine
photography and meticulous attention to detail. Students of the battle may
notice some small flaws -- for example, the "shock troop" battalions to which
the protagonists belong went into the Barricades Factory on 10 November, but
in the movie they then listen a radio broadcast by Hitler that was actually
made on 8 November -- but compared to the virtues of the production that's
just nitpicking.

On the minus side, the script of STALINGRAD tends to travel in fairly
well-worn war-movie traditions and is somewhat predictable. It is also hard
to keep track of the characters -- a problem with men in uniform that gets
worse when they don't speak one's own language (the movie is in German with
English subtitles). Finally, STALINGRAD is about two and a half hours long,
and I think it would have had more impact and would have lost little if they
had trimmed about a half hour out of it (or at least 15 minutes).

So, in sum I would characterize this as a good but not superb movie, well
worth a watch -- though I wouldn't exactly pick up something this grim and
dire for light entertainment!

Rating:
Summary: 4 Star Movie, 2 Star DVD
Review: About the only complaints I had concerning the movie itself dealt with a couple battle scenes that seemed... rushed. As they occur early enough in the movie where they should be getting you hooked (they are the first ones IN Stalingrad), I could see how someone not interested in the subject matter to begin with might lose interest.

The plot is good, engaging; and gets you to sympathize with the protagonists without raising the propaganda flag. There are some moments that seem staged, but on the other hand you also get to see how some evil people can do enough bad to wash over their comrades' more valiant deeds (on either side). I kind of wish there was a little more information given to the watcher as to the progression of the battle... You basically find out they're encircled, and then, near the end, you get to see Paulus and the rest march into captivity, with the doomed general chastising one of the protagonists (who does not know anything more than we do) about still carrying a weapon. In a way, the lack of that plot device serves to keep your focus on the doomed "heroes"... and I suppose it tries to show you what it's like to be in the midst of all that chaos and violence without knowing if it's even worth it anymore.

As far as the DVD goes... I may as well have been watching it on VHS. The picture quality is nothing to brag about, and I'm too used to getting at least Dolby 5.1 on DVD format. Plain old stereo doesn't do jack to justify a DVD format, and a war movie without volume lacks. There are no special features other than "English or German" and "Subtitle" menus, which is rather unfortunate, considering the amount of side information one could offer on such a huge event in history.