Stalingrad

Someone once said, "may you live in interesting times." I have to say I enjoy learning about World War II history because it was such an interesting time in our civilization. For someone born 35 years ago it is hard to imagine such a brutal world existed just 65 years ago. This documentary gives the viewer so much insight into the experiences of those caught in such a historic moment.

Stalingrad was a turning point in the tide of World War II. The director, producers and writers went to great lengths to find people to tell their stories of war. This documentary is sad and wonderful. Wonderful? Because everyone can and should learn something about this moment in history. It says so much about humanity.

If the producers read this... someone should do a documentary on Paulus. I want to know what became of him after the war.

First, I'll just get a few short comings of this work out of the way.

(a) It helps if you know something about the battle before watching this documentary. You -might- feel a little lost in the bigger-picture sense without such knowledge.

(b) Those looking for an in-depth military analysis of the battle should look elsewhere. This film is brilliant in its ability to capture the experience of war, not the theory behind it. Hence, there are not a lot of maps, etc. in this movie.

(c) Sometimes the film can be a but redundant.

So, now that all of that is out of the way, on to the good stuff. What really makes this film shine is the first-person accounts by people who were actually there, and lived through it. Both ex-German and Russian soldiers are interviewed, along with Russian civilians. It is said that a soldier only really experiences war in the 1000 feet that is around him. If that is true, then this film is a horrifying, moving, and amazing account of those 1000 feet. It also abuts the historical-drama movie by the same name. The two are really worth watching in tandem. This is a bottom-up account of Stalingrad that illuminates the experiences of the common foot soldier, which is often a story not heard from the German side of things. I really feel this is "must see" for anyone with even a remote interest in WWII.

This is a conventional and limited treatment of an extraordinary subject. It is conventional in its use of film and is limited to the suffering caused by war. It is a film that deals with a battle only in a broad and almost incidental sense: Suffering is the exhaustive theme.

One film would have been adequate to see alternately survivors sat in artfully dimmed spaces emotionally and repetitively recounting suffering and footage of people on the move or killed. To make the point and lather it home we get the clichéd Volga vistas and stirring orchestral music, too.

Film should be employed innovatively (or not) to match the subject - be it suffering or the account of a siege and urban warfare. These films deal with the former blandly and little with the latter. If we are not to become inured to suffering then director's please rise to the occasion.

A very visceral documentary on the Battle of Stalingrad which marked a crucial turning point of World War II. It has interviews with several German, but less Soviet, participants.

There are three parts: the prelude where the Germans invade the city, the "Kessel" (cauldron), and the final surrender and its aftermath. This was a total and brutal war and we are provided with film and interview footage that substantiates this. Also much of what is said, is also found in the book "Enemy at the Gates" by William Craig (don't confuse this with the rather romantic movie version made a few years ago). For instance Craig's book also describes the part about German soldiers desperately hanging onto the wings of airplanes leaving the besieged city.

Some of the soldiers interviewed break down due to the overwhelming nature of the experience they endured. Post-traumatic stress disorder not only affects soldiers just returning from war– it is something that scars for life – most of these veterans were in their 70's and 80's. It was important to get these interviews – these participants are a non-renewable resource and their stories needed to be recorded for future generations to comprehend the horrible scope of this war.

Even though this is a German-made documentary, I was hoping for more interviews with Soviet participants. Admittedly there are some Soviet interviews and I would have liked more about how the civilian population of Stalingrad experienced the war. There is substantially more on German military tactics – for instance there is almost as much about the failed attempt by Manstein to relieve the beleaguered troops as there is about the Soviet encirclement. Also it is mentioned a few times during the documentary that of the 200,000 German troops taken prisoner in February, 1943 less than 10,000 returned after the war (many in the 1950's). It must never be forgotten that the German took prisoner over 5 million Soviet soldiers during the invasion that began in June, 1941. Of these, less than 10 percent survived – many starved to death from neglect. To the documentaries credit a few of the German soldiers state that they knew what to expect when they were to surrender to the Soviet troops, for they had seen first-hand what was happening in German occupied territory.

Regardless, this is a devastating documentary that shows the terrible truths of total war – it extinguishes any illusions about the "Glory of Battle". In the "World at War" documentary episode on Stalingrad a Russian comments: "These German soldiers are a funny lot with their shiny black boots attacking Stalingrad - did they think they were on a joy-ride?"

I have seen it countless times, the music gives me chills, it is so masterful and gives a feeling of hopelessness and comfort in death that awaited the German forces on the Eastern front