hirszowski-1 I watched the film having in mind well known facts how Stalin and his commanders treated people and soldiers in particular. What seems unbelievable to reviewers, i.e. the option granted to the kids by the government: "go on to get killed or we shall kill you", was in fact a common practice in the Soviet Army (and in the political system as the whole) KGB troops that followed soldiers on the battle field during hopeless attacks, only to kill each soldier who would try to withdraw, go slower than ordered, dodge the bullets etc. (and soldiers were aware of that!) was a regular scenario of many, then famous, battles for which Stalin's generals were decorated with kilograms of medals! In this film the difference lies only in that the "choice" was given to kids rather than to men who were forced to serve in the army, after all. Of course, I am talking about the core of the situation portrayed in the film and not arguing that whole plot from start to end is in each detail totally believable.I am surprised to find so many reviewers who firmly state that the Soviets could not use children in this way. From the military point of view it is not necessarily unbelievable: just study the history of antifascist underground armies in Poland and elsewhere, where kids (with their innocent look and presumable lack of skills) occurred clever enough to vitally help many sabotage actions, and you'll find how naive some presumptions presented here may occur.I am perplexed to read that the Stalin's regime was not that bad as it may seem based on this movie. Gulags, KGB secret actions, great starvation of the 30s that took 30 mln lives only to silent and eliminate a population of people who were resisting the regime and were not submissive enough to allow Stalin to get them deprived of their own land (farms) and many more facts are unknown, have been forgotten or are we witnessing a kind of common amnesia? A concept much more believable to me would be that the whole advertising noise about the movie was well scheduled only to invoke a "reverse reaction", i.e. "public" claim in Russia and particularly in the free world that "Stalin was not that bad". Too twisted or too clever? No, oppressive regimes have always been more clever than systems based on civilized standards. I hope we'll not be forced to try and experience whether this statement is true or not.As a former tutor in a correction house for juvenile criminals I find the movie psychologically very believable. I liked that the film showed a human dimension of people in a totally inhuman world. Professional features of the movie did not, in my opinion, give raise to any serious criticism and I found some scenes done perfectly. It's definitely not a movie for people whose perception was shaped and is embedded in today's Hollywood standards. Thanks for your attention and patience (if any) to read my review until the last dot.

Ivan Elez In the process of watching this "war drama" you feel like vomiting - so bad is the movie. Boring, embarrassing, dull, made by people with a total absence of talent. Moreover, the movie is totally embarrassing for our country and our people. Millions of soviet people died during the WWII, and now those, who survived and won can do absolutely nothing to a fact, that they, their battle comrades, the whole nation - all is mixed with sh*t. Why do we make such movies? Is there nothing about the war to be filmed? There are lots of stories to be told, lots of heroes to be shown. Why inventing a story, that has never happened? Damn this movie!!

Geoff O'Callaghan I was surprised by the quality of this film. Sure, the ending was hyped, but just look at American films. (Boys on bicycles flying past the moon?) Why can't foreign films use a little hype now and then. Nobody seems to claim this is a true story, and it isn't. It is a boys' fantasy. Perhaps a bit too much blood and gore to get a PG rating, but part from a few swear words (Mother who?) well I've seen worse. Quite a few kids are killed and suffer violence, Not much worse than "Goblet of Fire" really, but I think, if anything, they pulled their punches in the training scenes. Real kids commando training is very much rougher than they showed. I'd be happy for teens over the age of fifteen to watch it. The film deals with the subjects of attitudes to boys, boy bashing, and the use of child soldiers. It also has a lot of moral issues that can be discussed. On the whole, I'd like to see a film with English dubbing. it would be worth it. Well done, guys. The kids acted well, too.

Master_of_My_Domain Well, I was very eager to see this film after seeing "9-ya rota" few months ago, and as much as I liked the latter - I was so disappointed with "Svolochi". First of all, this film is not a war drama. Yes, it ends with a sabotage action, it happens during a WWII times, but it is more drama than a war genre. From its beginning we get to meet bunch of (probably) homeless, parent-less boys, simply trying to survive in the starving war-time Russia. In pursuit of food nothing can stop them, and they don't hesitate to kill anyone standing in their way without mercy. No, they're not ruthless murderers, not yet, but given a chance to grow up - they will become one. Some of them got caught, and they were sentenced to death. However, in the same time, Soviet military is trying to build a special one-time-use commando groups, consisting of such underage criminals. So the boys are given a chance to "redeem their crimes against Soviet Union". They went through extensive training on a deserted, remote base, where friendship and partnership ties bind some of them. Once the training is over, they are sent on a suicide mission to destroy German gasoline supplies somewhere in Romania (IIRC), and here we get to the point, where the entire movie's premises become unbelievable. I can understand that the Soviet military wouldn't hesitate to use children as soldiers, but its highly unlikely that they would have ever sent bunch of kids - no matter how well trained - on a mission of such importance. Nevertheless, the boys are sent to action, where their entire platoon is wiped out while still in the air on parachutes. Guess this: the commanding officer sacrificed all of them just to enhance survival chance of his 2 favorite boys! Thats another unbelievable hole in a script, but there's more: the two favorites somehow managed to accomplish their mission, destroyed the enormous gasoline supplies, and escaped unharmed! I know, sounds like a teenage Rambos ;) Well, I must add, that one of them does get hurt after all, but neither the landmine, nor the giant avalanche can touch them. If not for these unbelievable Hollywood-style twists of the action, I would have like this flick. Don't get me wrong - the performance by most of the boys is strong, the cinematography is good, the special effects are sufficient, but what kills this movie are those little nifty unbelievable things, where the film loses its credentials of serious film-making. And thats where I have to say I'm sorry to Mr.Atanesyan and Mr.Kunin: I don't buy your story at all.3/10