The film is about the battle of Stalingrad. For those of you who don't know anything about it, it was the worst battle in the Second World War. Over 1 million people died in the course of the battle. This is the only film that I've seen that seems to have actually captured how bad things were in the war between Russia and Germany. What I really liked about it is that the two ideologies (Nazism and Communism) were nowhere in the film. Unlike most American films, the Germans are not seen as blood thirsty murderers, but what the average German foot soldier was, a person.

The film revolves around four soldiers fighting in Stalingrad. They were transferred there to try and take the city. The film follows these men from August of 1942 to early 1943. During this time, they learn about the horrors of war and try to find a way out of the battle.

Through the entire film, one feels the desperation of the entire battle. Unlike "Enemy at the Gates" the film makers didn't try to put some sappy love story or dress up factual occurrences of the battle. This film may be fiction, but it conveys what happened in the bloodiest battle in World War II.

It's August 1942 and some German soldiers are resting in Porto Cervo, Italy after battling in North Africa. Lieutenant Hans von Witzland is their new by-the-book commander. The men are soon sent to the eastern front. It's a harrowing fight filled with horrors as they get surrounded by the Russians.

It is a little bit hard to differentiate some of the men. Most have similar haircuts and some look very similar. It's also hard to differentiate by their voices since I don't understand German. I certainly don't recognize any of the actors. Once they get into the battle gears, it's nearly impossible.

The battle sets are big. The rubble is impressive. However there is something old fashion about some of this. It doesn't have the feel of reality. There are too many wildly overacting "shocking" cliché moments. Everybody is yelling. The action is also not the best choreographed. It is still impressive that they actually stage them. Overall there are some good gritty bloody stuff going on but it gets undercut by a lot of clichés.

Let me start this review by saying that I am generally not too big on war films. I am pretty interested in politics though, but the depiction of actual battle scenes has never done too much for really. Luckily, this film is more than that. During its over 2 hours it does not only show bloody fights, but also delivers pretty good character evaluations and a smart approach to the idea of how to depict the very well-known fact that war is evil. This is about the battle of Stalingrad, maybe the most known battle in World War II, because it basically destroyed Germany's hopes of winning the War. "It" is the Russian winter in this case and the fact that German soldiers just weren't ready to deal with the heavy climate conditions. A bit of an irony that it happened right at the city that is named after the Russian leader at that time. But lets get back to the film. The director is Joseph Vilsmaier and at least people with an interest in German films should know him. He has worked in film since the very early 1970s and was also a co-writer with a couple other guys for this film here. The cast includes some known names, but nobody really where you would say "oh it's him". The most known of these today, almost 25 years later is probably Sylvester Groth. The only significant female character is played by Vilsmaier's wife Dana Vavrova, who sadly died far too young from cancer. This is certainly one of Germany's best (anti-)war films and if you appreciate the genre more than I do, you may actually have a pretty great time watching this one. The acting is fine, the character are relatable and memorable and it's really well done by Vilsmaier so that we can watch a credible tale of how they were not only struggling with their enemies, but also with other people in the German army and as a whole with their lives (as soldiers) in general. Thumbs up.