Fyodor Bondarchuk's "Stalingrad"

You are correct sir!!

 

Not to be confused with the 1993 German production of the same name. Judging from the lack of people at the IMAX yesterday this flick is NOT going to be making a profit in the USA. I can see why-the story is like the Vasily Grossman novel it is based on, which is to say "mountains of fear and oceans of pain." Moreover the subtitling is done in such a way as it detracts from the 3d visuals, and maybe it should NOT have been released in IMAX in the West? A must see for students of WWII, but the rest of humanity can wait for the REDBOX release.
This is a pretty good exploration of what that terrible battle was like for the participants, and a lot of the incidents are based on actual events; ie. the "Alamo of the USSR" at the Pavlov House (though Pavlov held this place with a platoon and he was never driven out), snipers shooting Russian women with German officers like Vasily Zaitsev did, the hellish ambiance, Russian units going into states of superhuman fanaticism, and casual atrocities committed on civilians out of heathenish NAZI ideology. Then there is the scene where the German hero brings a Russki scout before his boss without checking him for arms. The scout kills the boss with a knife and the German is rid of his nemesis! Anyone who has ever suffered under a tyrannical prick of a boss can relate to this.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/28/mo...oint.html?_r=0​

​

"We have fought during 15 days for a single house," writes a
German officer, "with mortars, grenades, machine guns, and
bayonets. Already by the third day 54 German corpses are strewn
in the cellars, on the landings, and the staircases. The front is
a corridor between burnt-out rooms; it is the thin ceiling
between two floors. Help comes from neighboring houses by fire
escapes and chimneys. There is a ceaseless struggle from noon to
night. From story to story, faces black with sweat, we bombard
each other with grenades in the middle of explosions, clouds of
dust and smoke, heaps of mortar, floods of blood, fragments of
furniture and human beings. Ask any soldier what half an hour of
hand-to-hand struggle means in such a fight. And imagine
Stalingrad; 80 days and 80 nights of hand-to-hand struggles. The
street is no longer measured by meters but by corpses...
"Stalingrad is no longer a town. By day it is an enormous
cloud of burning, blinding smoke; it is a vast furnace lit by the
reflection of the flames. And when night arrives, one of those
scorching, howling, bleeding nights, the dogs plunge into the
Volga and swim desperately to gain the other bank. The nights of
Stalingrad are a terror for them. Animals flee this hell; the
hardest stones can not bear it for long; only men endure."

 

I wonder how long it will take before a film about Operation Typhoon is made...because that one would really be interesting. People have made quite a few films about Stalingrad now. This just seems like a flashing, CGI laden remake of Stalingrad (1993) - IMDb.

Interesting to note Thomas Kretschmann is in both films, same title, same subject.

 

Yikes! You can watch the whole thing-w/o translation- for free on YOUTUBE! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7O3EfSckIk

 

I enjoyed the most recent Russian version. The Russians do not play around with the rah rah I'm a hero stuff like we do in the west. They make a movie and try their best to bring the reality of the situation to life on the screen. I found that refreshing.

 

not so sure about that. That scene with all the Russians fully full body on fire still being able to rush the German line and fight. dont think that would be possible.
They had to run atleast 40ft to just get to the Germans.

 

Yeah, but it is in 3D IMAX !
lol

 

The movie was Ok. I got the DVD from Netflix. The "love" story was not really a love story like EATG but didn't take away from the movie. No sex scenes. Pretty much two stories going on. Historical fiction I would label it.

 

It was on cable here recently. 20 minutes in I turned it off.

 

Are you serious? I just watched this film on Friday, and couldn't disagree more. I would agree with your statement if the "western" movies you were comparing it with were exclusively things like Rambo and Commando.

Don't get me wrong, it was an entertaining film, but to say it is accurate and not full of over the top heroics is just not right.

 

I seem to recall a fair amount of it in Alexander Nevsky as well.

 

View attachment 21650

 

Stranger things were known to happen in the annals of war. Ever heard of Roy Benavidez?