jvdesuit1
What's wrong with this movie? I don't know. Yes it's not a super production costing 100million+$. SO what?The aim of this movie is to show us how compromise was at work at the end of WWII. Let's read what Wikipedia says of the Exiled Polish government during that period and how the occidental allies acted:...In April 1943, the Germans announced that they had discovered at Katyn Wood, near Smolensk, Russia, mass graves of 10,000 Polish officers(the German investigation later found 4,443 bodies who had been taken prisoner in 1939 and murdered by the Soviets. The Soviet government said that the Germans had fabricated the discovery. The other Allied governments, for diplomatic reasons, formally accepted this; the Polish Government in Exile refused to do so......InNovember 1944, despite his mistrust of the Soviets, Mikołajczyk resigned to return to Poland and take office in the Provisional Government of National Unity, a new government established under the auspices of the Soviet occupation authorities comprising his faction and much of the old Provisional Government. Many Polish exiles opposed this action, believing that this government was a façade for the establishment of Communist rule in Poland. This view was later proved correct in 1947, when Mikołajczyk's People's Party was defeated in an election which was later shown to have been fraudulent. The Communist- dominated bloc was credited with over 80 percent of the vote, a result that was only obtained through large-scale falsification. The opposition claimed it would have won in a landslide had the election been honest. Mikołajczyk, who would have likely become prime minister had the election been truly free, left Poland again in April 1947, this time never to return.Meanwhile the Polish Government in Exile had maintained its existence, but France on 29 June 1945,then the United States and United Kingdom on July 5, 1945 withdrew their recognition...This being quoted what is shown on the movie is also plausible. The USSR government was and still is no better than the Nazi one and many other governments still in power. And that's the subject of the film showing how two men can change their appreciation of their situation in view of a war crime. The acting is perfect and the movie does not need super special effects to put this situation into perspective. Maybe there are 52 stars on the American flag, so what? Great movie directors have had anachronism and errors in masterpieces, did we consider these to be rubbish? Of course not.This movie is not a cult one obviously, but it is a movie worth viewing with a brilliant musical score which is like a huge requiem in the background mourning a beginning friendship harshly interrupted, an unrealized love union due to the greed for power and domination of the world of two blocks. Through Klaus and Andrew, it is us the viewers who are personified and presented as the puppets of governments and ideologues pretending to protect us but who don't.
miklank
I read the reviews after hiring this movie and decided not to even bother watching it. However I was doing some other work on my PC and put the movie on. I was surprised to find the movie to be interesting with a good story and the character of the German Captain especially was interesting and well acted. The story of the dangers of the Russians - Soviet Union - to the world is a story that needs to be told and retold. There were some poor special effects at times including trees not showing bullet damage when being shot at but ignore the minor errors caused by low budget movies relying on CGI effects and missing some of the realism but concentrate on the story and characters which are quite decent. This movie is not a dud at all and is an above average movie. I think that most viewers, both male and female, can enjoy an interesting story about a group of different characters coming together to escape from evil and to tell the truth about what a totalitarian society was doing. The movie showed both the Nazis and the Russians to be evil - a very real truth that was ignored by Western Governments at the time. I have now added this movie to my 7,500 movie collection and given it 4 stars out of 5..
shizno
To the people who made this movie-you might want to find real work. You did a terrible job. While I love East Front movies, few though there are, I couldn't believe how completely awful this one was. As a historian, Soviet collector, Red Army Reenactor, and veteran, I can not believe how awful this movie was. You should all be horsewhipped!The battle scene shortly after the opening was AWFUL! If you're going to make a movie, do the research! The German firing the MG34 with no ammo in it at 2.57 minutes was a great flop. It only got worse from there. Having fired a weapon or two in my day, it's not hard to see when someone is playing pretend.You might want to talk to someone with some infantry experience to figure out what happens in an infantry assault or how armor should have infantry support. And you might not want your light vehicles advancing right into the line of fire. Nice work securing a Kettenkrad bike, though! You had some great vehicles to show, it's just a shame you didn't know how to use them. And you don't move mortars forward right into the line of fire, either. In fact, you might want to go to a firing range some time and learn how firearms actually work. You might be surprised! By the way, next time you want to make a military movie, try having someone who can tell you what uniforms and insignia should look like! Seeing the fouled up Soviet uniforms, like that tool with the beard wearing a Guards Badge upside down was unforgivable. The symbol of a unit that fought with honor and distinction hanging upside down is silly. You're really insulting the Russian Vets with ham-handed nonsense like that. (FYI-in the field, we put a layer of leather or cardboard on the post to hold them in place.) The beard is totally inappropriate, too, especially if the guy is supposed to be an officer.By the way, you don't attack a T34 with small arms. Had you done research, you might have viewed the Heer training film, Men Against Tanks, which teaches circa-1943 anti-armor tactics. Grenades, mines, fire bombs, magnetic mines, not rifles and machine pistols. Since the video is freely available online and in many afficionadoes' libraries, I can only chalk this up to your utter lack of effort. Then again, it's obvious you couldn't even secure actual weapons, since the muzzle blasts were obviously CG'd in and there was no brass flying.If you want to do it right, contact the living history community. There are many, many reenactors who could stage your battles better and would only cost you some praise, food, and maybe some beer. We have our own vehicles, do our homework, provide our own weapons and ammo, and we do this for fun. Take a look at www.reenactorpost.com for an idea of what we do. Your production could have looked half-way decent for little cost.And do what a prior poster said-don't try to make up your own story. Mine a true story. It's easier and much, much more interesting. The war on the Eastern Front is full of incredible tales of heroism on both sides. You could have told one of the great stories of mankind's struggles, but instead you gave us crap.For the other viewers-it is a well-known historical fact that both sides stole each others' weapons. Germans found the ppsh more reliable and easier to use than their weapons, while Russians found the Germans better equipped. Both sides also used each others' weapons for going behind enemy lines. Finally, the film is supposed to be set in 1945 when the Germans are collapsing while the Soviets have captured millions of soldiers and their equipment. Also, there is nothing wrong with a German referring to a panzer. It is German for tank. "Tank" is purely a British invention; in WWI they used it as a codename for the new armored track layers with which they were planning to surprise the Germans.Again, I can not express the depths of my disrespect and disgust for the clowns who made this horrible, awful movie. You have absolutely no talent and I think you owe us all an apology for this steaming pile of crap. Thankfully, the magic of the interweb means we don't have to pay these fools money. Bit torrent this crap, then delete it. Your hard drive space is worth more empty!
redbear43
Plus of this film: Good Music and the ending credits Negative: everything else, God don't waste your time The lead actors were all just terrible ,supporting actors were OK but who watches a movie for supporting actors.At first I was really mad at everyone who worked on this POS until I saw the credits. Than it all came together. The people responsible for stealing 2 hours of my life were apparently the two leads ,since they were the ones who wrote the story, produced and executive produced this piece of tripe A lesson for every actor out there. If your so bad at acting that no one will cast you and you have to write and fund your own movie maybe you need to find a new line of work.If I could change one thing about this movie I would put a disclaimer on the front of the box warning audiences that narcissistic crap is to follow So to the actor with the fake British accent and tony the German lead, guys I want my $1 back.