Stupidity at the gates

Rating: 1/10 (12 December 2011)

This is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. It's not about real people and problems but about Freudian archetypes like the handsome hero, the two lovebirds, the genius little boy etc.
First off, real Vasiliy Zaitsev was ugly, but I guess that would be too complicated for the Western audience so they used boyband like, raspberry looking Jude Law instead. Who cares for the complex truth when there are so many good feelings to get.
Second, if a 12-year old boy would reach the proficiency with German language that would allow them to talk freely to an officer, the NKVD would not let him walk around freely, they would lock him up in the Gulag or at least use them for their own purposes. In any case, he wouldn't run around in shorts and a thin jacket in the Russian winter that killed the German army.
Third, when the Russian people are undergoing genocide and the fate of the world is being decided in Stalingrad, a soldier would not run around in his bunker, happy that his face has been printed in the Pravda, like a hipster who just opened its first weblog. I realize that modern Western people are all about recognition from their peer group, but trust me, during the biggest war in human history, people had other problem's on their minds.
If you watched this film and you didn't feel intellectually insulted, I suggest you.... take a Russian history class.