Excellent drama, a bit light on the history

Rating: 8/10 (6 August 2013)

It's hard to deny this is an excellent film. Impeccable acting, direction and photography create a powerful depiction of war at its most miserable, futile and degrading.
But I do think two mild criticisms need to be stated.
First, a movie titled "Stalingrad" ought to present at least some vague overview of that historical battle. Aside from a few confusing references to the wider tactical situation, this move sticks to a worms-eye view. After a while, you even have to wonder whether the travails of this particular group of soldiers are at all typical of the huge German force involved at the time. The film works as drama, but if you call it simply "Stalingrad," I think you're promising a bit of historical context.
Second, the pace is a tiny bit over-drawn. In the last third of the film, I reached an atrocity overload, where further horrors had progressively less impact. I began to disconnect from the characters, remaining only mildly curious as to what agonizingly tragic ways would be found to dispatch them. A stronger dramatic hook is needed, to pull us through the admitted hopelessness of this last segment.
These are far from fatal flaws. It's more a question of balance. A bit more context, a slightly tighter narrative, and this could have been a masterpiece. As it is, I'd say it's a really excellent film, that does show - unforgettably - how war deadens the soul, even if it fails to kill the body.
Still, I have to hope that other filmmakers will one day present a broader view of the battle of Stalingrad. There's still lots of historical ground that needs to be covered, if future generations are to understand the madness that created this nightmarish conflict.