I had high expectations, since lately the Russians have made some great war movies, like Bielai Tigr, Brestskaya Krepost or 9 Rota. Gritty, realistic, well-filmed, well-acted. Unfortunately, this is not the case with Stalingrad. The actors play way too fake, the story is crap, everything is so underlined that is as dreadful to watch as the 30s Soviet or Nazi propaganda (or 40s US propaganda, really bad too). And actually this is all about this movie: propaganda, and not even good or subtle (Brestskaya Krepost was also quite propagandistic, but still a good film anyway). For example, SPOILER the first battle scene: Russians charge undeterred while on fire, burning to death but still attacking none the less, while the Germans, well entrenched and heavily armed with MGs, just throw their weapons and run SPOILER END. Really? How could anyone think there are out there watchers so dumb not to laugh out at this? The characters speak mostly in slogans, not like normal people, and everybody is ridiculously stereotypic, from the German officer to the brave devoted scout. My opinion? about 3/10, with 3 points for the filming (at least the filming crew knew what they were doing, unlike the writer or the actors). My advice? Go watch Brest Fortress (Brestskaya Krepost-2010) instead.
Review of Stalingrad
