Film Review: They Fought For Their Country (Они сражались за Родину), 1975

I became aware of this movie, starring and directed by Sergei Bondarchuk, of War And Peace and Waterloo fame, whilst researching a post on Road To Berlin. Folk at the Kinokultura website, a place specialising in modern Russian cinema, didn't like the latter, comparing it unfavourably with this. Hmm? Well, having watched both now, I still prefer Road To Berlin. Never take the experts at their word, I say. Always make your own mind up!

This said, it might simply be that the version I saw was fatally marred by certain things: firstly the subtitles were frequently very out of sync' with the film, and secondly, the soundtrack was appalling. It sounded as if it had been recorded entirely separately and in the studio, just as many dubbed films are. So, for example, the dubbed version of Stalingrad is, for me, unwatchable bad. Whilst the German OST transforms it into a masterpiece. 

Is there a version of this with a good/better soundtrack? If so, I'd like to see it. As it is, the disembodied ultra-flat soundscape of this version completely kills the film. Or it does for me at least. There are numerous other issues however, such as a large proportion of the key cast being 40 or 50 year olds. There may have been some old folks in the Russian army. But this gives the impression they were the backbone of the Soviet forces!

A rather nice montage, giving a flavour of the film.

And then there's the whole 'Russian Soul' thing [1]. On the one hand this is quite good, as it means much more dialogue and character based narrative than many a gung-ho action packed Hollywood style drama. And Hollywood this most definitely ain't. It's pure Russian/Kremlin. And in that latter remark I allude to a further problem, related to the leaden Russian Soul element, which is myth, or more properly in this context, propaganda.

The characterisations wobble between caricature and propaganda, only occasionally connecting with the intended humble reality of the ordinary fighting men this is clearly meant to be a homage/testimony to. This also leads to the Russians becoming like an army of philosopher saints, whilst the Germans are like Injuns in an old Western, automaton cannon fodder. From my reasonably wide reading on the Ostfront Russia was more profligate with their troops' lives than the Germans.

The action unfolds on the Don Front, which, if it's anything like it's depicted here, was a very dusty, sandy, rocky region, and takes place in 1942. The Russians are retreating, and the troops we follow are acting as a rearguard, whilst the main Russian armies retreat across the Don to regroup. The film is pretty epic in scale, something of a speciality with many Bondarchuk productions. Indeed, it's so big and long it's split into two films!

Battle scenes are pretty impressive.

Towards the end of the first film Bondarchuk's character appears to die as the German's overwhelm the Russian line, in a very implausible scene. But no, he's rescued by a female child nurse, who drags him back to the lines. An interminable hospital scene comes over almost comically, as he raves endlessly on, in long indulgent hammy monologues. If I'd been the surgeon I've either sedated the windbag or cut an artery. Anything to shut him up!

It does have some good points, however. I do like films that take their time. And this certainly does. For a war film it's very slow paced, with more character based interaction than battle scenes. But there are battle scenes, and they're quite impressive in certain respects, such as sheer scale. Lots of planes are used, some apparently even bring crashed. And large numbers of T-34s or similar masquerade reasonably well as Pz IV type tanks. 

Also the whole troops at march or in camp side of things is pretty well done, and you really get a sense of place. Indeed, the landscape is almost treated as a protagonist, as befits a film in which the country/nation/land is part of the title and subject. So, all in all? Something if a mixed bag, perhaps on account of the dubbed soundtrack. Not great, as is. But certainly worth watching.

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Some more pictures:

Looks like the film was part of a 30th Anniversary commemoration.

Bondarchuk in battle.

The company's chef, post bombardment.

Vasily Shukshin as Piotr Lopakhin.

Suitably rugged and cool!

Film review: Road To Berlin (Дорога на Берлин), 2015

I just watched this for what I think is the second time. Certain scenes struck me like I'd definitely seen them before. But overall it was like watching the film for the first time. Strange!

Lt. Ogarkov, as we first see him.

A very brief synopsis: young lieutenant Ogarkov is sent to deliver a message to the 341st Division, fighting at the front. However, the Germans are scything throughout the Russians, and Ogarkov gets caught up in a battle, failing to deliver the message. The 341st is annihilated, and Ogarkov becomes the fall guy, sentenced to death by firing squad. 

The feeling of deja vu might in part have been caused by this being a very similar situation to the pretty awful film Battle of Warsaw, that I watched on Monday (also to be reviewed here as soon as time allows!). But the similarities end, more or less, with this familiar filmic trope: before sentence can be carried out on the hapless and unfortunate Orgakov, the enemies' precipitate advance comes to his rescue.

Taciturn Dzurabaev does his duty, Ogarkov looks suitably doleful.

However, the sentry assigned to guard Ogarkov - no doubt seeing what happens to those in his charge deemed to have disobeyed orders - a Kazakh private named Dzurabaev, takes it upon himself, come hell or high water, to deliver his charge to HQ. Despite nobody knowing where that is, in the crumbling oft-surrounded 'front', which is mostly in headlong retreat anyway!

The Russian steppe, vast and inhospitable yet beautiful.

Sometimes the two of them are alone in the vastness of the Soviet Steppe, at other times they cross paths with German or Russian troops, or civilians. As their journey continues a strange fraught relationship grows between the two men. And it's this that is at the heart of this unusually humane war film.

The odd chemistry 'twixt these two lifts this film.

Overall the quality of acting is good. Ogarkov and Dzurabaev in particular being very convincing in their respective roles. Nor is it, like many films in this genre, Western, Russian or otherwise, either overly simplified, or nauseatingly patriotic or romantic. The insanity of war, the Ostfront in particular, is represented (but not overdone), and a couple of women feature, leading one to expect corny romances to bloom, but such temptations are resisted, admirably.

Cornball romantic subplots rear their head, but are avoided.

If I did see this before, I suspect I was half watching it, whilst model-making or painting figures, something I have got into the habit of occasionally in recent years. Giving it my full attention I found it to be really rather excellent, and in the end very moving. The title is bit misleading, frankly. But I'll let you discover exactly why for yourself.

The attention to uniforms, weapons, materiel etc, helps the film.

Some Eastern European WWII (or other war) films are awful, some average, a few really brilliant. I'd have to say that I rank this one pretty highly: it's beautifully filmed, attention to detail re uniforms and equipment is better than average, as is the acting, script* and direction. Definitely recommended.

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* This might be partly due to the source material, which is, according to IMDB 'based on a novella by the well-known Stoviet writer who served on the front, Emmanuil Kazakevich, Two in the Steppe, and the war diaries of Konstantin Simonov', with Kazakevich also writing the film's script/screenplay.

Book Review: Images of War, The Armour of Rommel's Africa Korps, Ian Baxter

Author Ian Baxter's CV, as given in the front of this book, looks impressively diverse and prolific. I initially thought this might be my first book by him, but then realised I've got and have read his book from the same series about Hitler's various HQs.

The narrative element of the text is very minimal, being confined to three short year-themed chapters: Desert Blitzkrieg, 1941; Attack & Retreat, 1942; Destruction in Tunisia, 1943. A larger portion of text, by volume, is given over to the captions to the 161 or so black and white photos.

The Pz III, along with Pz IV, formed the backbone of DAK's armour. [1]

Titles in the Images Of War series pretty much always make the bold claim, as is the case here, that they feature 'rare and unpublished photographs'. Unlike Baxter, 'an avid collector of WW2 photographs' (according to the back cover blurb), I'm not expert enough to pass judgement on the truth or otherwise of this bold claim. But I will say that the more of these books I collect and read, I am impressed with how rarely I recognise pics from other sources.

As no picture sources are credited (they normally are in other titles from the Images of War series), I imagine these must all be from Baxter's personal collection. Sometimes being sourced this way can mean some of the pictures aren't of the highest quality. And there are a few here so blurred I'd have left them out myself. But by and large picture quality is acceptable through to very good. And there's an awful lot here for the military buff, modeller or wargamer to chew over, digest and enjoy.

The Sturmpanzer II Bison, mounting the 15cm sIG 33 gun.

I think the use of the word armour in the title is possibly a little misleading because, as Baxter says in his intro, he covers everything from halftracks and wheeled reconnaissance vehicles to armoured cars, SPGs and tanks. To my mind the word armour conjures up tanks, and little else. On the other hand, whilst the vehicles pictured do include some motorcycles and softskins (cars and trucks, etc.), mostly it is armoured vehicles.

These range all the way through, from the early light Pz Is and IIs, to the medium IIIs and IVs, even including Tiger Is. Although, re the latter (and like so often with German tech), it was too little too late. Most of the vehicles here are very familiar. Less well known to me, and therefore more interesting, were the pics of Bison II SPGs. That's one I'm going to have to build in 1/72!

North Africa and the campaigns there have never drawn my interest as much as other theatres of WWII. And this book, as interesting and useful as it is, hasn't really changed that. But I do now feel I know a little more about the materiel Rommel and his fellow Germans (and to a much lesser degree the Italians) had to work with.

A really great picture! [2]

One of my favourite photographs shows a Me 323 Gigant disgorging an Opel Maultier towing an artillery piece. I like it because both the plane and the tracked truck are somewhat unusual, and both are quite striking looking. Another particularly good spread is a series of four photos showing a Tiger crew servicing/replacing an engine, and then having a well earned tuck break!

There's no index, glossary or bibliography, all of which would be useful. But there are three appendices, the first giving DAK OOB, and the second and third listing vehicle types and variants. Sadly this is one of these special interest books slightly marrred by lack of editorial finesse, with quite a lot of information in the captions being repeated, and a few too many spelling errors or questionable relations between captions and descriptions.

I read this in its entirety in just a couple of hours. There really isn't that much text. It's not the best written or most exciting WWII book I've read, by a long stretch. But it's still a good addition to the WWII history nut's book collection, mainly thanks to the images.

There are quite a lot of pictures of Rommel and other DAK (and even Italian) staff. [3]

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NOTES:

[1] This is one of a number of pictures where the captioning seemed a bit off the mark. Described as having 'halted at the side of the road', the projectile clouds of dust and sand being fed through the the tracks on the right/starboard sides of the first two tanks suggests they're in fact in fairly rapid motion!

[2] This is an example of a picture that was easy to find online, being a Wikimedia Commons/Bundesarchiv image.

[3] Given the title of this book I thought there were a few too many shots of Rommel and/or brass in conference or reading maps. And again, the one shown above, which appears in the book, was relatively easy to find online. 

Book Review: Lake Ilmen, 1942 - Gonzalez, Sagarra

A fascinating if rather specialist look at a particular episode in the history of the Blue Division, a Spanish volunteer unit serving with Germany in Russia, 1942.

The story central to the book concerns the creation of a volunteer 'ski unit', who neither ski nor complete their original mission (the relief of encircled German troops at Zvzad). This mission involved the crossing of the titular Lake Ilmen, frozen solid in winter, and therefore a potential temporary route for either Axis or Soviet forces across what was normally an enormous watery obstacle.

What I found most interesting about this book wasn't so much this failed and rather minor seeming action, but rather the broader contextual picture on the one hand, and the more personal biographical insights on the other. The broader picture concerns a sector of the Ostfront, and an element within that (i.e. the Spanish), not usually paid much attention in books on Barbarossa.

Blue Division soldiers at Lake Ilmen, 1942.

If this stuff gives an interesting and different macro-view, then at the more micro-level learning about the Spaniards involved, and even to some extent about their pre- and post-WWII lives is fascinating. Unsurprisingly these men were drawn from those on the right during the Spanish Civil War, who felt that they were simply carrying on and extending the fight against Communism that had begun in their youths at home.

Hitler's Germany made much of the 'heroes' of Lake Ilmen, awarding over 30 Iron Crosses. For propaganda purposes they even claimed the original operation had succeeded in its stated goal, which simply wasn't true. If we're to believe the Spanish accounts presented here, the men of the Blue Division got along with local civilians better than one is accustomed to hearing about in this infamously brutal war.

Franco's Spain celebrated the achievements of the men this book covers, whereas modern Spain by and large seeks to expunge such things from contemporary public life. Leaving aside the still fraught ideological aspects, and looking at this as a purely military episode, I personally found this a fascinating and informative read.

Whilst this may potentially a bit too specialist for the generally interested WWII reader, I found it an easy and compelling enough read to make it well worthwhile.

Film Review: They Who Dare, 1954

Warning: spoilers.

Set in 1942, They Who Dare tells the story of a British Commando Raid on Rhodes, the goal of which is to simultaneously attack and destroy two German airfields, thereby lessening the Luftwaffe presence/threat in the North African theatre, as Monty prepares for El Alamein.

Directed by Lewis Milestone [1], and filmed in Cyprus, in bright technicolor, the intense sun and saturated colour give the film a very strong visual look, which I love. Dirk Bogarde plays Lieut. Graham, a plummy British officer leading a tiny group, comprising just ten men: six British soldiers, two Greek officers, and two local Greeks as guides. 

Lt. Graham (Bogarde, right) and his team. Denholm Elliot at left.

A nice contemporary promo card.

After a briefing on the Greek sub that will drop them off, at which blood red wine is spilt over the map - an ill augur, perhaps? - the mission gets off to a shaky start. First they find their eagerly anticipated water source has dried up, and then Patroklis, one of the local guides, jeopardises the mission by visiting his family, which in turn leads to one of the Greek officers with the expedition injuring himself, whilst trying  to stop him.

The first priority becomes getting water, which proves nigh on impossible. Bogarde gets into a funk, and is ready to return to the rendezvous and scrap the whole mission. But Patroklis' sister and two local shepherd boys come to the rescue, with a priest and a donkey loaded with provisions [2]. The mission is back on. The group splits into two teams, and separates, to do the job.

A selection of attractive period posters for the film. [3]

Bogarde - who I often find rather unsympathetic; he frequently plays abrasively self important characters - is, true to form, a bit of a toff cock. His derring-do at the airfield ends up raising the alarm. And then after that they freak out a nun at the church where they're supposed to rendezvous. She ends up ringing the church bells, thereby blowing their cover. However, that's not all that's blown. 

Mission accomplished?

Bogarde's six man team is down three men, and of those left one is the wounded Greek officer, whereas the other team, lead by caricature-sketching Lieut. Stevens, R.N, are all ok. But they all still have to get back to the rendezvous with the sub. This part of the film is every bit as tense and exciting as the mission itself. And mishap piles upon mishap, such that you anticipate all will be killed or captured. Anyway, I'll leave the plot synopsis there, not wanting to give it all away.

Bogarde, irritating but charismatic. Totally believable as an officer class type. [4]

The delightfully named Alec Mango, as Patroklis, visits his relatives.

As much as I dislike a Bogarde's character, he does have onscreen charisma. A young Denholm Elliot also turns in a strong performance. Many of the other characters verge on caricature, from the portly, jovial Pappodopolous (Eric Pohlman [5]), Captain of the sub, to the rank and file Commandos, with their 'salt of the earth' banter. Having said this, all play their parts well, for all that, and they are a likeable bunch.

The Germans are, in fact, mostly Italians, including the planes. The vehicles look like a strange mish mash, but I didn't see anything beyond uniforms and guns that I recognised as definitely German, or even Italian (except the aforementioned planes). But whilst such issues of inauthentic matériel help ruin a film like Battle of the Bulge, they don't do such damage to this film.

A Daimler Scout Car, badly disguised as an Axis AC.

In many ways this is run of the mill stuff, based around British pluck of a David vs. Goliath variety. But something about it - perhaps the realism of a mission dogged by so many unforeseen problems, perhaps in part the actors, or maybe even primarily the visual side? - makes it somewhat more singular. Not an out and out classic, by a long chalk, but a strong film in its own way.

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NOTES:

[1] Milestone is most famous for the 1930 version of All Quiet On The Western Front. He also directed another film I recently watched and reviewed here, A Walk In The Sun.

[2] Let's be clear: the priest is part of the donkeys' load, he's not carrying anything! In fact, why did they bother? They should've left the priest and loaded more provisions in the donkey. I think the useless priest is included to add local Greek Orthodox colour! Speaking of which, the flute-tooting shepherd boys also serve that purpose. At one point a particularly striking looking young shepherd even contrives to save the Commandos from capture via his mellifluous noodling!

[3] I really wanted to find some pictures of the opening and closing scenes on board the sub. But, aside from the bottom left image to which this footnote is appended, I couldn't find anything usable.

[4] Self-assuredly confident they're born to lead, no matter how badly they do the job!

[5] Pohlman's submarine Capt, whilst a caricature, is endearing. I knew I recognised him. But I couldn't place him. Turns out he's 'The Fat Man' in The Return of the Pink Panther!

Film Review: Stalingrad, 1992

I first saw this film in an execrably dubbed version, several years ago. Because my memories of that weren't good at all, I hesitated over buying the 'fully restored' version. But I'm ever so glad I did. It really is superb.

The film tells the story of a group of soldiers who we meet on leave in Italy, 1942, after their return from active service in North Africa. Most of the key characters whose fate this film charts are at a beach, looking after their former platoon commander, who is a near basket-case, wheelchair-bound and raving. Late for a medal presentation parade, they meet their new commander. They don't all get off to the best of starts.

'Rollo' (Jochen Nickel), playing cards with Lupo (J. Alfred Mehnert).

Leutnant Hans von Witzland (Thomas Kretschman) on parade with his new charges... nice trousers!

Witzland, distributing awards to his new men, addresses Obergefreiter Fritz Reiser (Dominique Horwitz)

Aboard a troop train their new commander, Leutnant Hans von Witzland (Thomas Kretschmann, perhaps better known to contemporary audiences as ships Captain Englehorn, in Peter Jackson's King Kong remake), informs them that they're on their way to Stalingrad. Grizzled older combat veteran Unteroffizier Manfred "Rollo" Rohleder (Jochen Nickel) bets their green and squeaky-clean new officer that he'll outlive him.

All of this sets up the film for the groups arrival at the front, where they immediately see all is not well, as they pass hordes of wounded who are clearly neither happy nor well attended to. Leutnant Witzland tries to protest when he witnesses the maltreatment of Soviet prisoners, but is laughed off by a creepy senior office in specs, Hauptmann Haller (Dieter Okras), who we'll see more of later.

The Germans attack the factory.

Fritz, none too pleased to be carrying the flamethrower, by the looks of it.

At this point, after Witzland meets the brass (during a prayer meeting!), the movie moves into the combat zone proper, with a fierce and bloody attack on a factory complex. I personally think it's supremely well done. Gear nuts and uniform fetishists - and let's face it, how many wargamers and modellers aren't both? - will love the authenticity of the costumes and materiel. [1]

Things then get, and remain, very brutal. The soldiers we are following soon find themselves cut off, and a small group enter the sewers to try and connect with their parent unit. I'll leave off the narrative exposition at this point, since, as ever, I don't want to spoil things for readers who haven't seen the movie as yet. What I will say is that the soldiers we are following find themselves in plenty more tight spots, and there's a good deal of footage showing the winter biting hard, including another superb combat sequence.

A Pak 38, small arms, and magnetic mines, against T-34s and Russian infantry..

Vilsmaier doesn't spare us any gore.

Vilsmaier has said himself that he sought to depict the full brutality and ugliness of war, and knew that he might well offend some in doing so. Perhaps ironically, whilst the film is relentlessly grim, and undoubtedly intended as an anti-war tonic, something to shock us and prevent us repeating history, it could be argued that it might be as attractive to new viewers for its 'war porn' brutality [2] as for anything else.

During their jolly jaunt in the subterranean sewers - one of several stunning locations - Edgar Emigholz (Heinz Emigholz) is severely wounded. The group attempt to get him treated at an understaffed hospital...

... spirits and temperatures plummet.

Vilsmaeir's wife plays the only female with more than a minor role, as a Russian soldier whose path crosses with our group on several occasions. The film is very good in that, although we follow the Germans, it doesn't really take sides, but simply shows the conflict in all its bestial intensity. We see plenty of Russians, and their civilian population, and the Germans range from humane and heroic to barbarously brutal, with many of them simply enduring their suffering in mute disbelief, as do all parties.

Whenever the odious Hauptmann Haller appears, you know it's not going to be good.

We first meet a young Russian kid, Kolya during the factory battle episode, after which he appears to abscond in the confusion of battle. Then, later, we meet him again.

This film doesn't really seek to address Nazism as such, except in one or two very brief moments. But there are many other films that do explore that issue. This film, like Das Boot [3], doesn't set out to examine that subject so much as the fate of the ordinary man, as a soldier, caught up in something appalling, and, very largely, out of their control. 

Having said this, Stalingrad doesn't duck the issue of complicity in inhumane atrocities, with one particularly gruelling scene forcing the men we're following to dirty their hands irretrievably.

After the snow fight...

Fritz, Ge-Ge, Hans and Rollo.

All in all, superb. And thank goodness there's now a decent subtitled version, so we can experience this film as it was intended to be seen.

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NOTES:

The most important thing when watching this movie is, I feel, to get the right version. I think the dubbed version is nigh on unwatchable, turning a superb film into a (frozen) turkey. In case it helps, the new version, pictured at the top of this post, is copyright 2014, says it's 'fully restored', and makes a point of mentioning thats it's in the original language, with subtitles. 

The one to avoid, at least in the form I have a copy of it, has a cover more like the image shown below. Not only do the dubbed voices sound disembodied, but there are no subtitles for the expository texts, or the moments when Russian is spoken, or even the speech by Hitler that the soldiers listen to on the radio after the battle for the factory.

[1] There's an interesting wiki type website here that lists the weapons you can observe in the film.

[2] From the apparently earnest Saving Private Ryan, or the HBO Pacific mini-series, to the more overtly wish-fulfilment fantasies of Fury or Inglorious Bastards, it cannot be doubted that some viewers will get off on the violence depicted in war films.

[3] The older of my two versions claims Stalingrad was made by the same production team that made Das Boot. The newer version doesn't make this claim/connection. I glanced at production credits for both films, and couldn't see Vilsmaier named in the Das Boot credits. Does anybody know who, if anyone, worked on both?

The real McCoy...

... Stalingrad pays a moving tribute to all who suffered in this infernal cauldron.