May 15 2010
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Before there was “Saving Private Ryan”, the most graphic and visceral cinematic battlefield carnage was depicted in “Stalingrad”. Ironically, the raw realism which drew rave reviews for SPR had elicited runt more than apprehension and negativity for “Stalingrad”. I’m not a sadistic guts’n'gore affictionado, but war is brutal and needs to be presented in an unsanitized manner. “Stalingrad” has been, and remains, my well-liked war film. It is from the German producers of “Das Boot”, and presents the point of plan of the approved Wehrmacht soldiers of Paulus’ 6th Army, who were abandoned to freeze or be slaughtered in the bombed-out ruins of the city named for Stalin. Neither the Germans nor the Russians are portrayed as heroes or supermen in this film; there is only the desperation of fighters who are forbidden retreat. The anti-Nazi views of the producers are famed, and occasionally a bit heavy-handed, but there is an admirable attempt to stick to realism. Even the Russians are presented accurately: from the presence of the female corpsman (yes, there were thousands of Russian women combatants at Stalingrad), to the playing of the phonograph song Temnaya Noch’, to Stalin’s cruel Edict that “there are no POW’s — only deserters”. The tense ceasefires to allow tending of the wounded are also historically fair, and are documented in various memoirs. The T-34 tank model depicted is, unfortunately, an anacronism. But the hand-to-hand fighting through the rubble of the buildings, streets, and sewers is realistic. As is the freezing Russian winter which sapped the energy and morale of the stranded Germans reduced to scurrying like rats and eating their gain horses. From the cavalier attitudes of the would-be conquerers on the convey to the desperation of the hordes of would-be escapees at the airport, this film takes us along with these German soldiers, allowing us to sympathize with their spot and even effect a obvious still liking for them. The futility of their campaign haunts the poignant, dejected ending of the film (one can’t call it a climax), as Russia Herself swallows her violators.
Stalingrad precedes Saving Private Ryan as a visceral recognize at the horrors of war. Besieged by the Germans for months, the bitterly contested city looks appropriately as if it’s been hit by an atomic bomb. The film relates not only how hard both the Germans and Russians fought over this city, but how the cruel Russian Winter exacerbated the status and made the Germans’ attempt futile.
The acting is very estimable in this film. We aren’t meant to be sympathetic to the German soldiers. They are merely cogs in the Nazi war machine. Fallible characters who exhibit both courage and cowardice in the process of the yarn. I found that it was best to view the movie in its native German with English subtitles. You secure a better feel for the emotional jabber of the words that are spoken, even if you are not fluent in the language.
The production values are grand, as are the sets and costumes. This film, to my knowledge, is thoroughly convincing and makes you feel as if you’ve been drawn into the era to leer the poor battle as it nears its conclusion. At the kill, we behold the beginnings of the unpleasant march to Siberia by German prisoners. Only five percent survived, but I’m clear the Russians would have been elated had none of them made the wobble.
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The only thing I might have wanted to peep was a bit more of the perspective of the Russian troops, but I guess that might have made a long film a bit too long.
Truly an unforgiving and brutal anti-war film and not to be missed!
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