I watched this movie a few days ago and enjoyed it. The battle scenes are reminiscent of Waterloo. (Sergey Vasilyev is another Sergei Bondarchuk, who directed Waterloo, which is underrated, in my view). The battle scenes easily match up to Waterloo spectacle. The battles of Pleven and Shipka were well-done. As for propaganda, I found that there was very little (if any). The only propaganda I found was how they displayed the Ottomans as perpetrating war crimes against the Bulgarian people while the Russians as liberators of Bulgaria from her cruel masters. In reality, both sides committed war crimes.
Aside from this, people generally commented that they detected propaganda centered around the incompetence of the Tsar and his bureaucracy. But how is this different from The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968 film) which theme was about the folly of war? Perhaps the Tsar's leadership was a mess during that time? Even if it is criticizing the Tsar, the film puts him in good light at the end and, this does not detract from the idea of what the film was trying to convey: that Russia at this time was fighting for the freedom of the Bulgarian peoples. Overall, the film was good and any history buff could enjoy this movie.
Aside from this, people generally commented that they detected propaganda centered around the incompetence of the Tsar and his bureaucracy. But how is this different from The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968 film) which theme was about the folly of war? Perhaps the Tsar's leadership was a mess during that time? Even if it is criticizing the Tsar, the film puts him in good light at the end and, this does not detract from the idea of what the film was trying to convey: that Russia at this time was fighting for the freedom of the Bulgarian peoples. Overall, the film was good and any history buff could enjoy this movie.