If you expect to see a happily-ever-after film then you're way off...

Rating: 10/10 (17 February 2003)

It's tough, rough and realistic right down to every minute detail...
Glory, heroism and grandeur are pierced by an unfolding plot which displays the human deroute in the face of the prolonged battle of Stalingrad.
One of the forces of this movie is that the main protagonists (if such a term can be applied) are not only soldiers fighting for their country, they are human beings involuntarily sucked into a war they essentially don't want to fight. However, what makes this movie an absolute must is the powerful depiction of how the hideous setting affects the German soldiers, their beliefs and develops into full-fledged despair. Altogether a brilliantly construed film which relates what war really is and not what most people would like it to be.