ZVEZDA– aka : The Star : 2002

The time is summer 1944 and the place is the Eastern Front. The Soviet summer offencive has bulled its way to the border with Poland. The Soviets have stopped to bring up supplies etc for the next series of attacks. In order to have a better idea of the opposing German forces, Soviet headquarters has sent out several recon squads. These squads have failed to return.

Headquarters decides they really need the info, so out goes another patrol of recon scouts. The patrol sneaks through the German lines at night under cover of a Soviet artillery barrage. They keep off the roads and cut across country. There main objective is a railway station 30 miles behind the lines.

The Soviets works its way towards the station, but are spotted by a German patrol. The chase is now on, the Soviets to gather information, and the German's to kill or capture them.

There are several clashes with German troops and the patrol starts to lose members. They do however discover that the Germans are hiding forces in the deep forest for a counter attack. They are also setting up fake tanks etc near the rail station to fool Soviet aerial reconnaissance.

They have the info needed, but have lost their radio in a clash with some SS troopers. They pull a raid on a German outpost and steal a German radio. While holed up in a barn, they manage to contact headquarters. They pass on the needed intelligence just before the Germans show with a large force. There is a bloody firefight with the Soviet patrol being wiped out to the last man.

This is a pretty decent war film, with some nice looking cinematography and good attention to military detail. The German Tiger tanks are of course not real, but they do make an effort to make them look real. Same with the German half-tracks, they are really post war Czech built items. When the war ended, the Czechs just continued to build the Sd.Kfz 251 for their use.

All in all, the film is well worth a look.

Properly marketed, may be with a dubbed option, for english and french,this movie has great box office potential. Specially in the wake of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, BAND OF BROTHERS, THIN RED LINE and WINDTALKER, this movie has in no way to hide behind those titles. The script is excellent, kept me right in the seat, the cinematagrophy stunning, and I was amazed with the historical details of the uniforms and military hardware. I would give it a 9+ rating, or two thumbs way up, as Siskel and Ebert used to do. The russians know how to craft the best war pictures, why are they not releasing them via box office, or at least for the north american homme video and DVD market ? I'm very impressed, and I would like to point out, that you can get this movie on VHS, in it's russian only version. Some of my friends watched it without any knowledge of the russian language, and loved it. The action is so intense in this movie, that it explains itself.

This movie is about soldiers who didn't try to be heroes. In contrast to Private Ryan they didn't question their orders. They believed in their mission, and they had to complete it whatever the cost is. Heroes it's what we call them after watching this movie.

Visually, Zvezda is very decently made, though far from high budget movies like Saving Private Ryan or Enemy At The Gates. But on the other hand it wasn't the movie's goal. The director didn't try to lure us with stunning explosions, or great angle shots of a battle. He just tried to touch our feelings, which he did outstandingly.

There are some minor drawbacks in the plot(like of Vorobej remembering the way back) but except of these the movie is very tense, and the last minutes bring really heart-breaking, tear-dropping moments, that can't leave anyone indifferent. I wanted to scream but I couldn't let the words out, tears ready to go.

This movie is in memory of those, to whom we owe our lives, leaving our flowers over the grave-stone of the unknown soldier.