Stalingrad (2003)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Please don't spend money on this.

People are voting emotionally.

Blistering performances.

"Stalingrad" is a German mini-series that consists of 3 episodes that run between 40 and 45 minutes at least in the German version. I think the English-language version is even a bit longer, but still nothing you couldn't watch in one sitting as in any case it will stay under the 3-hour mark comfortably. It's a historic documentary about the days of World War II of course and the crucial battle in the Soviet Union that basically decided the War in favor of the Allies and the Soviet Union. And that's why of course Guido Knopp is also on board of this small screen production as usual. Another fairly well-known name here is Sebastian Dehnhardt, who managed a decent breakthrough with 2 sports documentaries in the years after this one here. Here he was really just one of many. Anyway, I think this was a good and insightful watch from start to finish and really informative. The middle part ("Kessel") was probably the best of the entire thing as it did not only deliver convincingly in terms of interviews, old audio recordings, old video recordings etc. but also made an impact in terms of emotional situations as luckily nothing about this documentary feels staged or scripted (apart from the informative parts of course). As a whole, I quite enjoyed a watch and I can see why this one here is so much more known the the gigantic amount of other WWII documentaries and I don't think at all that many mistook this one for the feature film from a decade earlier that has the same name. I highly recommend the watch here. Go check it out.

First, I'll just get a few short comings of this work out of the way.(a) It helps if you know something about the battle before watching this documentary. You -might- feel a little lost in the bigger-picture sense without such knowledge.(b) Those looking for an in-depth military analysis of the battle should look elsewhere. This film is brilliant in its ability to capture the experience of war, not the theory behind it. Hence, there are not a lot of maps, etc. in this movie.(c) Sometimes the film can be a but redundant.So, now that all of that is out of the way, on to the good stuff. What really makes this film shine is the first-person accounts by people who were actually there, and lived through it. Both ex-German and Russian soldiers are interviewed, along with Russian civilians. It is said that a soldier only really experiences war in the 1000 feet that is around him. If that is true, then this film is a horrifying, moving, and amazing account of those 1000 feet. It also abuts the historical-drama movie by the same name. The two are really worth watching in tandem. This is a bottom-up account of Stalingrad that illuminates the experiences of the common foot soldier, which is often a story not heard from the German side of things. I really feel this is "must see" for anyone with even a remote interest in WWII.

Someone once said, "may you live in interesting times." I have to say I enjoy learning about World War II history because it was such an interesting time in our civilization. For someone born 35 years ago it is hard to imagine such a brutal world existed just 65 years ago. This documentary gives the viewer so much insight into the experiences of those caught in such a historic moment.Stalingrad was a turning point in the tide of World War II. The director, producers and writers went to great lengths to find people to tell their stories of war. This documentary is sad and wonderful. Wonderful? Because everyone can and should learn something about this moment in history. It says so much about humanity.If the producers read this... someone should do a documentary on Paulus. I want to know what became of him after the war.

I saw this docu several years ago and until this day I have never seen a better documentary. Detailed reports with many survivors, Russian as well as German and even civilians who still lived in Stalingrad during this terrible battle.The true power of this documentary are the survivors. When a certain German soldier told his story how he was able to get out of this hell on earth (wounded) he told it with so much heart and soul when he cried, I cried.This may sound silly but it moved me in a way a docu never had done before. It puts back the Humans in the story... not just The Evil Germans or The Brave Russians (as seen in many documentaries) no it shows the human horror, the pain, the hunger the sorrow...If you have the chance to see it DO IT... I was lucky because the Dutch TV broad casted this 3 part masterpiece. And if anybody knows where I could get in (in the Netherlands) PLEASE HELP ME OUT. I want to show parts of this when I become a teacher(2 more years of school)THNX ! And to all the survivors who worked on this: Thank you for shedding a (your) human light on this horrible war which, I see daily, many children forget or don't care about anymore, this makes a difference.