Stalingrad

Americans make their war movies with the biggest budgets, toughest stars, but stereotypical predictable scripts. The British like complex, intellectual war movies done for cheap. Russia makes some of the best war movies around, though good luck getting to see any on this side of the former Iron Curtain. And Germany? Somehow the Germans combine the best of all the war movie making lands, with one caveat: you know your side is going to lose.Stalingrad follows a young Lieutenant who joins his new infantry unit at the height of Germany's World War II victories. As they drive deeper into the Soviet heartland with each fresh victory, our Lieutenant becomes more disillusioned with the war until his Army becomes hopelessly trapped by the Red Army's surprise Operation Uranus surrounding Stalingrad.Like American movies, you have action packed battles with quite realistic details. Like the British, you have a philosophical and intellectual discussion of what war in general, and this in particular mean. Like the Russians, you have a visceral gut grinding point of view of war on a very personal level. But because it's a German film, you know your side is going to .... lose.

(1st off I'd like to say there is a cancer in film reviews/critics. that is, the movie isn't what people wanted it to be, I'm not doing that. I take films as is, and what they are, not what I wished them to be.) SO! For example, those who gave it low ratings were probably hoping for a slammed packed action flick.ACTION 3/5: Though there is lots of cool and great action, it comes in ten minute bursts, every 25 minutes or so. It has cool slow motion sequences and the imagery looks real with all the green screen and CGI. It is also not overly gory either, the most intense it gets is Russians on fire running into the trenches. Lots of good explosions and realistic gunfire.VISUALS 5/5: The film is darker toned with blues and greys, gives it the cold feeling. like I said early, cool slow motion, it is very smooth and the slow mow we like seeing. Not quiet like SHERLOCK HOLMES though. The planes look weird at times, but everything fits in very well and looks good and fitting to war time.SOUND 5/5: The gunshots, bombs, cannons, all sound good. The voices are clearly heard (I'm learning Russian and could still clearly understand) I also loved how it was real Russian and real German speaking. It does come with English subtitles. The music was good too, not much different than other films, I saw someone call it cheesy... not at all.PLOT 3/5: Its a simple story that falls in the lines of a 'feel good'. The basics is they save an 18 yr old girl from the Germans to protect her. The movie opens up saying "How can one have 6 fathers?" then the movie is about the six soldiers that protect her. That is the main, the back up plot, or second plot, is about a German leader who loves a Russian woman and must take on the six soldiers or be executed by the German army. As said earlier, the action comes in 10 minute bursts every 25 minutes. This doesn't mean there is no gun fire in those times, it just means there's not really much action in those times, its the German and the Russian girl and the Russians and the Russian girl trying to stay alive.OVER ALL 4/5: It was a clean movie that tied all the connections in a great way. Told a good story, and stuck to it over just crazed explosions and violence. (Now to break my rule of 'it wasn't what I wanted it to be" I do wan this movie to feel more like SABATON'S STALINGRAD music video, but its not, and its ok, it all feels good and fitting. More action would have been cool, but then again, this movie doesn't over do it. The other thing I noticed was odd film cutting. One moment their in the second floor and the next their fighting in the trenches, then without showing them in a clear way, they are somewhere else. These are minor though. Still a very good film. Ето хорошо фильм. Я люблю смотраю Сталинград!

First of all this film is mislabeled as being English language audio when it is not. The audio is in Russian and had I known that I would not have rented it because I did not want to read 2 hours of subtitles for what was essentially a cheesy propaganda film. I did not hate all of it, it had some good moments. But overall it was incredibly cheesy and unrealistic in its portrayal of war with stereotypes galore and silly slow motion of every single action scene. I have no idea why they decided to do that because it lessened what could have been a decent dramatic movie and moved it into comical. I love war films and see all I can and I would put this near the bottom.

Ok, i'll be honest. When i purchased this film, i thought that it was the 1992 German movie of the same title (you can view for free with english subtitles on YouTube). This is the Russian movie made in 2015. The over-the-top "special effects" made by computers make this movie more like a video game. There were moments...but this could have been WWII film story plot 702. There really isn't the story of the battle of Stalingrad...one of the most vicious and deadly battles of the Eastern Front. Watch the German film instead, or better yet, get a better history of the story by watching Enemy At The Gates with Jude Law and Rachel Weisz from 2001.

This film was a huge disappointment. Bad plot line. Poorly acted. I cannot begin to politely describe how bad this film is. Do not waste your money purchasing it. Do not waste your time watching it.

I'm a big fan of WWII movies, and this one by producers of 'Das Boot' made another hit!A group of experienced German soldiers return from North Africa for some rest and relaxation on the shores of the Italian coast, only to find themselves hastily recruited to take part in the Battle of Stalingrad. Led by an impressionable officer new to combat, they find themselves in the middle of hell as the German Army in its quest for 'living space' learns the Russians have no idea of giving them the city bearing the name of their leader.This was one of Thomas Kretschman's early films, and he does a good job as the devoted German officer who comes to learn the Fuhrer's idea of world domination will be the end of them all. It's in Russian, so you'll have to be okay with English subtitles.

One of the great war films in my opinion, but do try to find a copy in the original German language with English subtitles, probably the best way to get the most out of the film.Sadly my copy is in English or Thai audio dubbed with either English or Thai subtitles. Seems a crime to sell the dvd without the original language of German.The film is exceptional in any version with terrific performances from the German cast. The action is awe-inspiring and on a breathtaking scale and is completed with brutal close up fighting throughout. I rank the production amongst the best war films ever made.

How many times does this happen? And always German releases. drives me CRAZY. Firstly, why sell a (brilliant) film on Amazon UK without at least stating there are NO English subtitles. And the case in which the film arrives has "Digitally Remastered" in English in the cover - suggesting it can be understood by English audiences maybe? What is the point? A waste of £8.50. I'm guessing the % of the global population speaking English exceeds that for German. adding a translation would take a translator a day or two's work at most. Truly pathetic - a work of genius and the message is "we don't want you to see it". I've noticed the same attitude prevails with Russian films remastered to Blu Ray in Germany. Great intention, terrific picture. but only for German audiences. the rest of you all - tough luck. Utterly crazy and damn annoying. Maybe it's because I just noticed a BR disc available - all of 1 - @ £22 a copy instead of £8. SO FRUSTRATING.

Same production team as das boot, but nowhere near as good. Reasonable levels of action but interspersed with soldierly chats that quite honestly I found, boring, self pitying and somehow 'not real'. An infinitly depressing film, which I seriously considered throwing in the bin halfway through,thought it would be unfair to inflict this video on a charity shop. In fairness I might have found the speech less artificial if I could have found a way to listen in the original German with English subtitles. Maybe the revolting hell portrayed is how it was, but they lost my interest and sympathy very early on.

The original version of All Quiet On The Western Front is the best war film ever made. It is probably the earliest example of an anti war film and really sums up the horror of war. It was about German troops in the trenches during ww1 . Hitler banned the film because he thought it might discourage people from joining up to fight for the reich. Very few anti war films have the quality of story and feel that the film had. Apocalypse now, the remake of all quiet, 1917 come to mind . This film however really captures the feel and spirit. It’s from the German perspective again only this time in ww2 Stalingrad. It’s a really watchable film that exposes the true horror of war. It is really worth taking the time to see it

Stalingrad is an excellent film. Only problem I had with it is that it is not available in German with English subtitles, which would make it more believable than English spoken in a German accent. The lads Otto, Rollo, Wietzland are genuinely decent chaps mixed up in a war that starts off noble, but begins to go awry after a while. They find out that they are nothing but pawns in Hitlers egotistical megalomania, and it’s more a battle to survive than to conquer Russia.