Vilsmaier Strikes Again

Rating: 8/10 (8 November 2004)

Some of the best directors ever have come out of Germany and other central European countries. Vilsmaier is not one of them. Whether he is primarily responsible for the cut of "Stalingrad" I just rented from Netflix or someone else perpetrated it I do not know. But what could have been an excellent film is rendered just so-so by sloppy editing, obvious caricatures, uninspired panorama shots, and a soundtrack that seems to have been dubbed after the fact.
And then there is the predictable rapid-fire dialogue utterly destroying any sense of subtlety or inner tension inherent in some otherwise very good character portrayals. I do not fault the actors. Whenever they do have a chance to go deeper into an odd bit of dialogue, there seems to follow a figurative pie-in-the-face or sudden thrust in another direction entirely.
I thought the fictional though contrived main plot at least equal to those of any one of hundreds of other war movies. There is nothing unique involved here -- in spite of a tendency on the part of many viewers to re-live the specific tactics or political background in which the story progresses. War is war. I first heard that expression from a German cousin of mine who lost his only son (a Wehrmacht Lieutenant) at Stalingrad, and the sad finality in his voice still echoes in my head.
So, although I followed the character of Witzland (curious name, that) from beginning to end with more than a little personal identification, I vote this one no more than a high average.