Just saw it the other day and I was so impressed that I actually had to write a review. Even if it was produced in Romania, make no mistake, this is no low-cost flick and I have to say this movie contains some of the best battle scenes I have ever seen. What is truly remarkable is the realism of these scenes, due to an era (1970s) when computer generated images and special effects were not even a distant fantasy. Nowadays it is difficult to imagine shooting a battle with hundreds (if not thousands) of background actors charging over the hill through actual explosions, accompanied by some 10 tanks or to hear the pounding sound of the field artillery and the actual smoke they produce when releasing the shells. A huge like in terms of realistic battle feeling.
While the movie does not shine in terms of depth of the characters, this is not necessarily a problem, since this is a historic war movie and the focus is completely different. Nevertheless, there is some very good acting and some likeable characters. From this point of view, it is way ahead of other war movies like All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) and 1917 (2019), for whose protagonists I felt little to no connection or sympathy.
When rating movies done during the time of communism, you have to take into account that all of them had to respect certain guidelines issued by the Communist Party of Romania in order to be considered acceptable for release. For example, in pretty much all movies of the time (including ones set in the pre-WW2 or during WW2) you have to have the witty and righteous communist hero who saves the day and/or convinces the others to see the "holy light" of communist ideals. However, my suggestion is to look past aspect this to be able to adequately judge the movie.
On the negative side, the writer obviously conforms to the cliches of the time (not only valid for Romania, but for much of the rest of the world until relatively recently) depicting the German officer (the main antagonist) as an arrogant, ruthless, soulless killing machine. However, there is a memorable scene adding a bit of depth here, when the German officer and the Romanian cadet analyze the different ways in which they perceive music - one as a sort of science of the soundwaves, while the other as an outburst of feeling.
Some drawbacks in terms of accuracy are related to the tanks used - they are obviously not German WW2 ones, since it would have been impossible to obtain any and are most likely some Romanian produced version of the T-55. However, the crew did go to some lengths to make the tanks more similar to what they were supposed to look like, so they added/welded some metal sheets to give them a look somewhere between a Panzer IV and a Tiger I. In addition, even if the battle recreation is impressive, some details like individual soldier deaths are almost funny. Given this is a war movie there is surprisingly little to no gore and another unrealistic aspect is that there are almost no wounded in battle - soldiers either live o die, which is contrary to the reality of warfare. Nevertheless, the 2 phrases above depict a situation in line with the movie making standards of the time and should not be compared to current ones.
As a conclusion, I am most likely subjective in my overall evaluation, but it is no doubt that the movie delivers some solid old-school battle scenes, while the rest of the story is also enjoyable thanks to a good cast and good acting.
