Stalingrad (2014)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

A Masterpiece!

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Director Fedor Bondarchuk already won me over with films like '9th Company' and 'Attraction' (his latest film), which are both among my favorites. I finally got my hands on 'Stalingrad' and watched it in great anticipation, and wasn't let down one bit! 'Stalingrad' is among my favorite war films. It was also one of the more touching war films, and not detailed gore like some war movies. I really enjoyed the back ground stories of each of the main characters. All of them had a very definite reason for being there and being who they are. The film features some of the best visuals I've ever seen with great sound. The music was awesome, as well. The battle scenes were incredibly well done.

The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the most essential and brutal at the same time, battles in WW2. Said battle changed the world and the war itself. There are two major films regarding the battle of Stalingrad: "Stalingrad" (1993) - also from the Germany point of view - and "Enemy at the Gates" - American movie. The former is brilliant, the latter has a love story which definitely ruins the movie and also is not a proper war movie, is more a mouse-and-cat battle between two snipers.Finally a Russian movie about the Stalingrad battle. Russian people not only fought the war, they also did live the battle as civilians. I can't imagine how many Russian stories there might be.Too bad this movie absolutely sucks. The CGI is terrible, everything's fake. Fake fire everywhere. Russians soldiers in flames fighting against the Nazis...well I think that's the most ridiculous scene alongside Roosevelt standing on its wheelchair in "Pearl Harbor".Not only everything is CGI (I reckon the main actors are the only non-computerized stuff), but the fighting scenes are always in slow motion. They look like fighting scenes from "300", horrible. If you remove all the slow motion scenes, the movie lasts 30 minutes max.I'm not here talking b*llocks about patriotism, almost every war movie is patriotic, especially American movies (in some movies Americans win battles they actually lost). Being a common item, patriotism didn't bother me that much.

This movie takes place during the siege of Stalingrad during World War 2 but just saying that takes away from the very human story that is portrayed. The Russian soldiers and "mama", a young Russian woman that is trapped with them as they defend their small corner of hell. During all this chaos, these characters try desperately to hold on to their humanity and, in doing so, create some powerful introspective scenes. I found myself really being pulled into their characters and their relationships in between the battle scenes. I even found myself engrossed in the relationship that began between the German Captain and Russian partisan. This is so much more than a war movie. I dare say it isn't a war movie at all, but a tragedy that takes place amidst the backdrop of a city at war. I've rarely been moved by a movie like I was here. Another great triumph for Russian cinema. Another very human movie from Russia that takes place during war that touched me like this was "9th Company". As with that one, this movie is well worth the time invested in it.

When you expect one battle movie, you expect the typical vision of the war. This is a nice movie because you can see the another war, the really war in the east. It was a hard battle and the movie is that. The argument is not very good, the story of exaggerated love, far from the reality is annoying.But the effects are very pleasing to the eye, the music does its job, and the actors are commensurate with the expected. It's a movie for a Saturday, action and heroism from the Soviet vision (actually a Russian view) Sometimes you lose your initial script (which does not matter) and gets into the love story something I dislike me.If you search one Historical film with the soviet vision this is not your movie, this is an action movie