X
- 2014
- R
- Columbia Pictures
- 2 h 11 m
- 2014
- R
- Columbia Pictures
- 2 h 11 m
Summary Stalingrad is an epic look at the battle that turned the tide of World War II. A band of determined Russian soldiers fight to hold a strategic building in their devastated city against a ruthless German army, and in the process become deeply connected a Russian woman who has been living there. Presented in IMAX® 3D, the scale of the ba...
Directed By: Fedor Bondarchuk
Written By: Vasiliy Grossman, Sergey Snezhkin, Ilya Tilkin
- 2014
- R
- Columbia Pictures
- 2 h 11 m
- 2014
- R
- Columbia Pictures
- 2 h 11 m
Stalingrad
49
4.4
Where to Watch
Summary Stalingrad is an epic look at the battle that turned the tide of World War II. A band of determined Russian soldiers fight to hold a strategic building in their devastated city against a ruthless German army, and in the process become deeply connected a Russian woman who has been living there. Presented in IMAX® 3D, the scale of the ba...
Directed By: Fedor Bondarchuk
Written By: Vasiliy Grossman, Sergey Snezhkin, Ilya Tilkin
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 23 Critic Reviews
49
26% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
65% Mixed
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
9% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 23 Critic Reviews
49
26% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
65% Mixed
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
9% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
After a devastating opening, the movie gets sluggish here and there, but it remains interesting throughout, not just culturally, but as a piece of drama.
It's a mixed bag overall — hence my star rating — but it's worth seeing nonetheless, largely because of the explicitly Russian qualities its sustains.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 68 User Ratings
4.4
25% Positive
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
35% Mixed
24 Ratings
24 Ratings
40% Negative
27 Ratings
27 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 68 User Ratings
4.4
25% Positive
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
35% Mixed
24 Ratings
24 Ratings
40% Negative
27 Ratings
27 Ratings
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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Du grand spectacle pour ce Stalingrad russe et une débauche de moyens à faire mourir de honte Hollywood ! on en prend plein les mirettes et les esgourdes, car la guerre à cet endroit était particulièrement brutale… et pire que ça, elle était enragée…
La réalisation est à la hauteur et parfaitement maîtrisée, pas de cut & move, non, non : des plans soignés et même… des ralentis impressionnants ; c’est assurément un régal à visionner avec un pot de pop-corn et un gobelet de vodka. Du pop-corn, car à l’instar des gros films de guerre américains, la propagande pour la gloriole des héros héroïques patriotiques dévoués corps et âme au sacrifice tourne dans ce Stalingrad de 2013 à plein régime !
J’ai repensé d’ailleurs à cet égard à un certain Fury ou même un Soldat Ryan (sans compter les grosses merdes de Michael Bay ou Roland Emmerich), preuve s’il en est que les Amerloques et les Russkofs ont ce point en commun : la propagande propagandiste à fond les ballons sous la forme de divertissements plus ou moins bien calibrés. Mais contrairement aux films hollywoodiens modernes, ce Stalingrad-là est très bien emballé et se laisse consommer avec allégresse.
Notons que l’autre Stalingrad de notre (inter)national metteur en scène Jean-Jacques Annaud est l’un des rares films à offrir un point de vue relativement neutre sur ces évènements terribles… avec bien évidemment des moyens hollywoodiens. Et notons également que les Allemands ne sont pas tous dépeints dans ce film russe comme les pires raclures déshumanisées… certains seulement, certains.
Bien entendu, en dehors de l’action stupéfiante, la romance et le drame typiquement slaves se sont invitées sans sourciller, surtout dans la dernière partie du film : une baisse de rythme notable donc mais également une dramatisation plus ou moins maladroite et/ou… presque drolatique à l’insu de son plein gré… mais quelle belle efficacité globale en tout cas !
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Hollywood does this too; truth be told, Russia’s high-tech whitewash goes down smooth like vodka.
While the imagery in this retelling is impeccable, the story is strangely lifeless.
It’s a brutal bit of screen poetry that’s matched too infrequently by the aching human stories director Fedor Bondarchuk is so anxious to tell.
Bondarchuk mingles the you-are-there grittiness of close-quarters combat and constant assaults from above and below with war-movie clichés that haven’t been updated since before the real Battle Of Stalingrad. It’s history written with airbrush.
Assaults are filmed in ubiquitous slow-mo to better register the way bodies are thrown into the air. It’s all rather confusing, actually, since the monochromatic tonalities and weak script, lacking in any comprehensible battle strategy, tend to meld the two sides together.
Who cares if that isn't what really happened. In my opinion this was a great action/war movie. The cinematography was great, the CGI was good, and the acting was good. I don't care about the history behind it. Have you ever seen Inglorious ****, I am pretty sure **** never got his head shot to bits by Brad Pitt in real life. This is exactly why I don't like critics, your too....critical. Don't get hung about on things as mediocre as the history behind it, who cares. Watch it for what it is...a good movie.
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Anyone who has read in any detail about the battle of Stalingrad, on which this movie is based, and who comes to it expecting a realistic story line, will be extremely disappointed within a few minutes of the opening. The first battle scene, in which Russian soldiers charge uphill from the Volga through the remains of a burning oil dump, thereby turning themselves in to human torches who then storm and take a heavily defended German position, didn't happen and couldn't happen, The ongoing lack of understanding of the reality of the battle is epitomized by frequent shots of characters enjoying panoramic views of the city's ruins, or simply staring through **** windows, despite the known prevalence of snipers at Stalingrad. These snipers appear when needed, however, as when some particularly stupid German soldier, who hasn't heard about the snipers, pauses in the middle of a ruined square to take a quick wash. A Soviet just happens to be training his girlfriend in sniper techniques, not far away.
Most of this film seems to be based on the story of Pavlov's House, a fortified apartment building held for two months by a small and determined group against enormous odds. Two hours of what must have been one of the grimmest struggles of a very grim war would probably be beyond the endurance limit of most people so it is understandable that the script writer invented a Hollywood-type narrative to replace what actually occurred. In which case, it should be called something else.
This is the third major film to deal with the battle of Stalingrad. The first, German, version is still the best though seen mainly from a German soldier's point of view. The second, the Jude Law love epic, was a weak attempt but did have some very realistic battle scenes. This version doesn't come up to that standard.
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What a waste of time. They spent so much money to make such a miserable movie. Overboard with special effects that did nothing really for the movie. The English dubbing was horrible and just ruined the movie. Perhaps I should have watched it in Russian. I only could hold out for about 15 min before taking the dvd out of the player. Ick, Ick, Ick.
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Production Company
Art Pictures Studio,
Non-Stop Productions
Release Date Feb 28, 2014
Duration 2 h 11 m
Rating R
Tagline The epic battle that turned the tide of World War II
Website
http://stalingrad-themovie.com/
Awards
Nika Awards
• 3 Wins & 7 Nominations
Golden Eagle Awards, Russia
• 4 Wins & 6 Nominations
Russian National Movie Awards
• 4 Nominations
