praise long overdue

Rating: Null/10 (23 January 2003)

It is good to see a motion picture depicting the tremendous fortitude and sacrifice of the Russian people. I think the Eastern Front should be explored more in history and the arts. In some ways the fighting on the Eastern Front was strangely similar to the utter bloodbath scenarios of WWI. Most Germans knew an assignment there was a death sentence with the odd reprieve for the lucky few. Although the world will never know how many Russian Jews were executed by the Germans and how many Russians really died in battle, we do know this-the Russian people took the German army to Hell and back. This film is certainly not an epic portrayal of the Russian military. It is a focused study of a small group of characters in battle. And the love scene? FANTASTIC! Yes, this film could have been more "realistic" and grotesque. Do we need that? Not really. This film is praise long overdue for the contribution made by the Russian people in the struggle against Nazi Germany. I saw a documentary about the Eastern Front in which Russians talked about fighting with shovels and rocks while their opponents had rifles. I think that kind of unsophisticated grit demoralized the Germans and on some level simply freaked them out! This film is a tribute to that spirit.