Decent war film, some minor flaws.

Rating: 8/10 (28 July 2008)

First of all I am an avid history buff. I have read most of the comments on here, if not all. I would have to disagree with the person's who remarked that this was a bad war movie. first off this movie is meant to be anti-war, like all quiet on the western front, only set about 25 years later. Secondly this movie does get combat correct on the Eastern Front, well at least combat that was not fighting in urban settings such as Stalingrad, Leningrad etc... So one can not really compare Stalingrad (albite a really good movie)to this film. Now onto some of the flaws that a no one has really mentioned, the uniforms were a bit off. First off Steiner is wearing a 1943 style uniform (with the 1943 style field cap), that is the year the film is set. However, if Steiner was on the "Russian" front for a few years, he would be wearing an older uniform (like some of his comrades are wearing early war and some pre-war uniforms, Steiner's is mid war). The tanks/trucks/ some of the rifles and submachine guns used are post WWII cold war era Yugoslavian/soviet made (including a lot of the "soviet" soldiers uniforms, however they do at least wear the correct jackets and helmets). The acting is not the best, and the German accents are not that great, but other than that and the above mentioned mistakes there is not a whole lot wrong with this movie. Oh, and to make a comment about people saying that this does not depict life on the Russian front correctly (because the men have beards and long hair, and there are a few strong homosexual themes) one has to think about what some one would do/look like if living in a trench in eastern Europe for months on end with out any real break. The higher command might have been bothered by this small annoyance, but would let it slide considering they had much worse things to worry about. Hope this comment from a history major/ movie buff helped.