Stalingrad

Pros: Gripping story; realism

Cons: Hard to follow who’s who when everyone is bundled up in the 2nd half

The Bottom Line: If you want to see a movie in the genre of Das Boot and Saving Private Ryan make sure to check out Stalingrad

Review: Stalingrad (now Volgograd) lies on the Volga River in southern Russia. It was a major transit point for oil and supplies for the Russian army in World War II, and here the Russian and German armies fought the deadliest battle in WWII, if not in human ...

Pros: Realistic war film, good costumes and accurate period vehicles

Cons: DVD has no chapters, poor subtitling

The Bottom Line: A truly great film.

Review: Move over Private Ryan. This 1993 German made war film beat you to the punch of portraying the gruesome truth about war and it’s effects on those who must take part in it. In the tradition of Das Boot we get to see the Second World War from the ...

Pros: An unblinking depiction of war for over two hours.

Cons: Inevitably, a few characters of many presented seem like stereotypes.

The Bottom Line: Unlike SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, which sentimentalized World War II after its first 20 minutes, STALINGRAD never relents in its plain depiction of the madness.

Review: It seems obscene to make comparisons about war films. For one thing, as you might see in *WHO'LL STOP THE RAIN (1978), the best war films may have the blowing up of things and people only as an incident or a context, perhaps not at all.

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Pros: Story-line, special effects and photography.

Cons: None

Review: If you are a lover of war movies like myself, you are probably disappointed more than not about the often lack of reality. Additionally, as a student of history, a constant stream of one sided good-guy / bad-guy productions, are rather boring after a...

Pros: brutally realistic, yellow subtitles make reading easier

Cons: Not for the squeamish

Review: The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the most brutal battles in human history, and the film STALINGRAD is the most brutally disturbing war movie I have ever seen. The film begins in Italy in the summer of 1942, where a veteran Wehrmacht unit is on leave...

Pros: Historical accuracy and character development up there with best of the genre.

Cons: May be too real and graphic for some.

The Bottom Line: The best movie on the battle, and far better than "Enemy at the Gates" in capturing what really happened.

Review: "The war in the East was characterized by utter brutality".

The above quote came from a general history of World War II that I read in my youth; the books that had more pictures than words. As my reading grew more sophisticated my...

Pros: Very Effective shooting, based heavily on historical documents. Great Action scenes

Cons: Subtitles may take away from some viewers enjoyment. Graphic battle scenes

Review: If you are a World War Two film buff this is a must have. Even someone who is not a fan of war movie genre will be impressed by the harsh brutality of this film that depicts the battle of Stalingrad. Relying heavily on the historical record (I...

Pros: Realistic action.

Cons: A little long, rather sad ending.

The Bottom Line: Excellent eastern front war flick.

Review: This is an excellent war flick if you like action & drama and are sick of the typical Hollywood production that involves a squad of US soldiers defeating an entire German army. This movie if filmed from the German point of view, a rare treat for us in...

Pros: Highly realistic. Historically accurate

Cons: Contacts with the enemy noncombantants showns as too friendly

Review: My father fought at Stalingrad on a Soviet side and he couldn't stand watching war movies. but I watch a ton of them back in the USSR, as a kid trying to underdstand how it was like to be there. Out of all the war movies I have seen this movie was so ...

Pros: Highly realistic battle scenes without glamorization; strong antiwar message

Cons: Weak character development and plot

The Bottom Line: Recommended as a realistic depiction of the horrors of war and the strength of the antiwar message

Review: The five month Battle of Stalingrad beginning August 21st, 1942 was one of the most monumentally important and devastating conflicts in military history. More than any other event, it marked the turning point in World War II. Up until this battle, the ...