Stalingrad (1993) ( Stalin grad )

Stalingrad (1993) (DVD) (*)

Out of Stock

Alternate Title: Stalin grad
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Moscow International Film Festival
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
English ( Dolby Digital 5.1 )
English ( Subtitles )
German ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )

Product Origin/Format:
Australia ( PAL/Region 2.4 )

Running Time:
133 min + 12 min extras

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.85:1)

Special Features:
Alternative Footage
Documentary
Interactive Menu
Making Of
Scene Access
Special Edition
Trailer(s)
Remastered

Movie filmed in 1993 and produced in:
Germany ( Germany, Central Europe )
Sweden ( Scandinavia, Iceland )

Directed By:
Joseph Vilsmaier

Written By:
Jürgen Büscher
Johannes Heide

Actors:
Dominique Horwitz ..... Obergefreiter Fritz Reiser
Thomas Kretschmann ..... Lt. Hans von Witzland
Jochen Nickel ..... Unteroffizier Manfred Rohleder
Sebastian Rudolph ..... GeGe Müller
Dana Vávrová ..... Irina
Martin Benrath ..... Gen. Hentz
Sylvester Groth ..... Otto
Karel Hermánek ..... Capt. Hermann Musk
Heinz Emigholz ..... Edgar Emigholz
Ferdinand Schuster ..... Double Edgar
Oliver Broumis ..... HGM
Dieter Okras ..... Capt. Haller
Zdenek Vencl ..... Wölk
Mark Kuhn ..... Sgt. Pflüger
Thorsten Bolloff ..... Feldmann

Synopsis:

In the spring of 1942 German troops advance deep into the Soviet Union en route to Stalingrad. Hitler seriously misjudging the tenacity of the Red Army is convinced that the city can be conquered before winter. Inadequately clothed and without sufficient food the Nazi troops literally freeze and starve to death largely abandoned by their leaders. For the soldiers Fritz Hans Rollo and GeGe the struggle for life has just begun. Gunfire and bombs are only one part of this hell; most of the soldiers will lose the battle against hunger and cold. The film presents this turning point in World War II as a vast tableau of horror in which the average German soldier was as much a victim of Nazi evil as were the Soviet people.

An epic treatment of World War II's most prolonged and bloodiest battle has yet to be made, but this grunt's eye view of that event is a powerful dramatic treatment on its own terms. Even before the storm troopers of the Sixth Army depart for the Russian front from a beachside idyll in Italy, there is a suggestion of trouble in the ranks when one of their number refuses to button his collar for a medals ceremony and his commanding officer in turn refuses to award him his medal. This theme, the conflict between the ground-level soldier and the officers who blindly follow orders, caring little for the morale of their men, is best illustrated in a terse exchange of dialogue. When a captain tries to tell Sergeant Rohleder (Jochen Nickel), 'I'm not a Nazi,' the weary, nearly frozen sergeant replies, 'No. You're worse, you lousy officers. You went along, even though you knew who was in charge.' In this movie's view, Stalingrad became less of a battle against the Russians and a more a battle for survival. 'If you start to think, you go crazy,' advises one soldier to another even before they're in desperate straits, and there are few heroes in this story, just men operating on gut instinct. The script focuses on a small company of soldiers, all of them fairly admirable, though as their number dwindles, they become divided on the limits of their duty to the Fatherland. Like Das Boot, with whom this shares a number of production personnel, this was a TV miniseries in Germany, which doesn't mean the filmmakers stint on their depictions of violence. Even if it comes up short in depicting the details of the German command's folly in fighting on through the winter, Stalingrad, like Das Boot, does transcend national rooting interests in offering a vivid depiction of the insanity of war.

Stalingrad follows the progress of a German Platoon through the brutal fighting of the Battle of Stalingrad. After having half their number wiped out and after being placed under the command of a sadistic Captain, the Lieutenant of the platoon leads his men to desert. The men of the platoon attempt to escape from the city which is now surrounded by the Soviet Army.

This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 14 February, 2012.

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