neworhan-88949 Even if this is a biography, I was expecting a historical movie, war scenes and some action. The most of the movie is about complex romance, female soldiers and too much girl talks, and american woman. Unnecessary scenes not only made the movie longer but also much more boring (for example, do we have to watch some soldier's walking all down the hall... and some other walking.. and more walking ... and staring each other for minutes). And american first lady unnecessarily took too much time and it was not adding anything to the movie. Just a visit! Even shooting scenes did not leave any effect on me. The gun was shaking or she was shooting without keeping a serious posture. not realistic! Overall, this movie does not show the strength of Pavlichenko as Russians or Ukranians would like to see, rather the movie shows her as a weak, confused and reluctant person. Wasn't this movie about a war hero? Sadly, hollywood movie (Enemy at the Gates) shows the Russian perspective more realistically than this movie. 3/10.

mateifl It is ridiculously unrealistic. Life in Stalin's USSR depicted like a paradise with happy people and abundance of food (we are talking about 1 year after the end of the Great Terror), snipers that take out tanks and so on, German soldiers that attack in open field at walking pace and using no cover, and yet they make short work of a Russian defensive trench, and many more. Rudimentary dialogue, giving characters no psychological depth ("If you do not want to fight for your country, you are a coward"). Fragmented story. Millions of Soviet soldiers deserve a better depiction of the suffering and hardships they hand to endure in those years in order to bring victory to their country.

truey-18409 I was riveted by this movie and I don't understand any Russian! This movie is absolutely about Lyudmila Pavlichenko and her recollections than it is about the "Battle of Sevastopol" any more than the movie "Enemy at the Gates" being a portrayal of the scope of the Battle of Stalingrad versus the adventures of Vasili Zaitzev. I would love to see this with English subtitles but would rather leave it 100% as with the actors speaking their parts in their native voices rather than have it butchered by dubbing. While there is a little stereotyping of communist leaders and their acts and gestures, the movie puts a human and personal touch on the real fighters of the Soviet Union in WW2, the young people who have to do the real fighting and would rather just live their lives in peace. Most "heroes" never wanted the spotlight and didn't do what they did for glory or fame. A moving and powerful movie.

John Roddick This is one of modern Russian movies made for the lowest common denominator. The plot and character motivations are over-the-top explained as if makers of the movie was very afraid someone at the very lowest end of intelligence scale will not understand everything. The main character is not likable and her background or motivations for being extremely reserved and grim person is never explained. Because of unsympathetic main character the whole movie is very hard to care about.Battle scenes are very few for such a movie and serve as illustrations rather than plot points. Some of the things taken from modern combat and movies are just silly, like navy seals style training and collecting tags from sniped enemies. That simply did not happen at that time in history. Sniping scenes are very weak, especially when main character hold the rifle it visually wobbles a lot until she pulls the trigger and gets perfect shot. It's just laughable. There's a cliché sniper-vs-sniper standoff subplot which ends way too quick, and ends in confusing "Han Solo shot first" situation.Also laughable are all the death scenes. Like actors came from some provincial theater and try to portray dying in a most over-the-top dramatic way.