Opiniones de usuarios

This movie is about soldiers who didn't try to be heroes. In contrast to Private Ryan they didn't question their orders. They believed in their mission, and they had to complete it whatever the cost is. Heroes it's what we call them after watching this movie.

Visually, Zvezda is very decently made, though far from high budget movies like Saving Private Ryan or Enemy At The Gates. But on the other hand it wasn't the movie's goal. The director didn't try to lure us with stunning explosions, or great angle shots of a battle. He just tried to touch our feelings, which he did outstandingly.

There are some minor drawbacks in the plot(like of Vorobej remembering the way back) but except of these the movie is very tense, and the last minutes bring really heart-breaking, tear-dropping moments, that can't leave anyone indifferent. I wanted to scream but I couldn't let the words out, tears ready to go.

This movie is in memory of those, to whom we owe our lives, leaving our flowers over the grave-stone of the unknown soldier.

Properly marketed, may be with a dubbed option, for english and french,this movie has great box office potential. Specially in the wake of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, BAND OF BROTHERS, THIN RED LINE and WINDTALKER, this movie has in no way to hide behind those titles. The script is excellent, kept me right in the seat, the cinematagrophy stunning, and I was amazed with the historical details of the uniforms and military hardware. I would give it a 9+ rating, or two thumbs way up, as Siskel and Ebert used to do. The russians know how to craft the best war pictures, why are they not releasing them via box office, or at least for the north american homme video and DVD market ? I'm very impressed, and I would like to point out, that you can get this movie on VHS, in it's russian only version. Some of my friends watched it without any knowledge of the russian language, and loved it. The action is so intense in this movie, that it explains itself.

Based on a book by Emmanuil Kazakevich, and derived from his own wartime experiences, The Star (aka: Zvezda) has a hardly original plot. One can easily think of war films in which a group of handpicked men are sent out on a suicidal mission, the successful conclusion of which thousands of allied lives depend upon; operations during which contrasting character types inevitably emerge and personal sacrifice is the norm. In interview, director Lebedev has stressed how little he knew of war cinema before he made his film, and such innocence is one reason why he's able to bring a fresh eye to some of the stereotypes, which are nowhere near the distraction that some critics have claimed. But ultimately the real strength of his film lays less in the formulaic plot than in how the director plays with the incidentals, and creates some striking moments as he does so. And despite Lebedev's blithe disavowal's, for alert viewers at least, there's some fun discovering echoes of another, much greater Russian war film, in fact the benchmark for such cinema: Come And See.

One of Travkin's crack team is Anikanov, played by none other than actor Aleksei Kravchenko, who played the boy hero of Klimov's masterpiece so memorably. A decade or two along in his career, he provides a much more mature presence here, and recognising the actor is in itself an apt process. Lebedev's film is set in much the same countryside, amongst the forests of Belorussia. Kravchenko's presence at the heart of the action brings the boy survivor of the earlier cinematic holocaust back, still obeying the essential call to arms, still resolutely hounding the cruel invaders out of the Motherland. Other moments also recall the earlier production: there's a swamp scene, during which the unit, Anikanov included, are almost lost up to their chins in the filthy water while avoiding a German patrol. Elsewhere, one or two scenes contain casually shocking images which have a familiar, brief intensity, such as the naked bodies of tortured soldiers floating down the river, or a brief glimpse out of a truck window at hanged villagers. And just like Klimov's film, Lebedev ends his own on an image of massed Soviet soldiery, marching implacably towards the foe.

That's not to say that the current work does not offer memorable enjoyment of its own too. During the fraught reconnaissance behind enemy lines, 'Star' patrol face purely military challenges, which are different from the civilian hell of Come And See. The present film is proactive towards the enemy, whereas Klimov's is mostly reactive. Lebedev's Star shines best at such times of difference, notably the film's main set piece, the bombing attack on the railway station which is well choreographed, and reminded me of the one in Frankenheimer's equally as good The Train. There are also moments where the cinematography and direction are, frankly inspired: one thinks of the rain falling on the muddy, pale face of a just-fallen comrade, washing him clean of the filth of conflict, or an extraordinary death scene of another solder, taken from a vantage point of camera strapped to the actor's chest. Most impressive of all, there's the striking crane shot, which takes the eye from the barn where the unit are hiding, up, across, and through trees from whence advancing Germans appear.

The 'star' of course comes to mean various things during the course of the film. One of the first things we see is a wartime flare, shooting its way through the night. When the impressionable radio operator Katya (Yekaterina Vulichenko) first appears, she's asked if she's from another unit "or just fallen from the sky?" And, as Russian speakers have noted elsewhere here, when on the radio, Katya hears her love, hero Travkin, say "ia zvezda" - which means both 'star speaking' as well as 'I am a star'. Finally, of course, a star is a point of reference, an inspiration perhaps, as well as the Soviet symbol on every uniform.

If there is a weakness to the film it lays in that tentative relationship between Katya and Travkin, the romantic elements of which seem a both a little undeveloped and over wrought - especially when placed against the turmoil and tragedy elsewhere. What was presumably intended to be understated instead approaches triteness by the film's close, despite the best efforts of actors and score. One only has to remember the similar scenes between a female radio operator and a doomed military figure in, say, A Matter Of Life And Death, to see how close to cloying comes Lebedev's distantly communicating couple. The Russian director's professed wish to make something romantic out of the conflict (thus staying true to the sensibility of the source novel) ironically brings his film its weakest moments.

Buoyed up by a splendid score by Aleksei Rybnikov, featuring solid performances throughout as well as a suspenseful narrative, The Star is well worth seeking out. The DVD includes some deleted scenes, a couple of interviews - including one with the young and modest director - but not a lot else. Lebdenev has since made a couple of less well received movies, including a fantasy epic, but the present film appears to be his best work so far.

Russians always knew how to make a film about the World War II. This war is a large and deep scar on the hearts of all Russians, they suffered that war and they won it with the sacrifice of a whole nation.

In the former USSR and now Russian Federation there is a lot of young filmmakers who probably have grandfathers or fathers who are war veterans or lost their lives in the most fierce battles in 1941-1943...

That's why the memories are still alive and the pain is still fresh... It is needful to feel all this pain if you'd like to produce a film, which is able to make you understand even with just a tiny bit of your heart the meaning of the word "war" and what it's like to have no way back...

The Star' might not be the most sophisticated war movie out there, but it was an exciting thrill ride. It quite never achieves the epic proportions compared to some better Hollywood and (Soviet) Russian was movies. Although we are not given much time to get introduced with characters, the heroes, and what makes them tick, are established quickly. Not much build-up - we are thrown into the action quite quickly. Still, there is enough room for the obligatory love story. Luckily that doesn't feel forced. The characters develop along with the story. We were given just the faces and names, but who these men really were, we learned while they moved towards behind the enemy lines.

Tight directing, perfect pacing and, timing with great acting makes this 'on the budget' movie edge of your seat thrill ride. Here I can't say that this is the only Russian war movie you should see, but it definitely belongs among the best (modern) Russian war movies.

P.S. I couldn't go without noticing that Aleksey Kravchenko's similarity with David Lynch is uncanny.

This movie is about romance that went without a touch, every word of which was sent through the airwaves in form of a code.

A newly recruited radio operator girl falls for a young handsome reconnaissance officer. Zvezda is the call-sign of his squad that steals into the night on a mission that may turn deadly.

Watching a movie set in the middle of a war, we instinctively try to guess who will survive until the end. In this movie, we hope they all will as we bond with the 6 guys on the squad to the point of our hearts starting to beat with theirs in unison.

Communications on a reconnaissance mission is about signs and looks. That's the way a viewer gets to communicate with the characters. The contact takes place on the eye level: the eyes on the screen are larger than life, as well as what we see in them. And what we see there is very often the fear-a feeling very familiar to us, something that makes us bond with the characters even stronger. `Which one would I've been like?' is a question drilling through our heads. The plot is far from schematic and the axiom that `the ours will always win' is subject to a reasonable doubt. Tears are inevitable.

A masterpiece music score accompanies the movie shot in beautiful landscapes. The cast is perfect: the actors are not well-known and free from unnecessary stigma. Don't miss a chance to see it.

With the Nazis encroaching deeper into the USSR, the defenders mobilise a small unit to penetrate the enemy lines and try to find out just where they are storing their fuel and unloading their vast supply of tanks and other munitions. They've gathered enough intelligence to appreciate that if this squad can't get this information, then an enormous invasion will start for which they are ill-equipped to deal. The task is handed to the young "Travkin" (Igor Petrenko) and his half dozen soldiers and so they set off into the hornet's nest. On the face of it, this is just another wartime adventure where a tiny force is set to overcome overwhelming odds and do their own sort of "Dirty Dozen" style of thing. This is a bit more sophisticated than that, though, as it really does depict well just how young and inexperienced the young men, who were plunged into these truly hellish scenes, had to use what wits and guile they had to stay alive. Barely out of their teens, most of them, they must get used to the death around them but also to the acts of killing that are a new and fairly traumatic experience. It's these performances from the likes of Aleksey Panin and Artyom Semakin that really do ram home the brutality of their environment and at the random nature of warfare. Those that they encounter in frequent life-or-death situations are little older or more experienced, and just as terrified, as themselves. Sure, it's all a little propagandist but then weren't so many other movies made about WWII by the British and the Americans? This has much less of the gung-ho, ye-ha, to it - it does try to characterise the vulnerabilities of these young men, whilst also showing their strengths as individuals - and there are some light-hearted moments for us there - as well as their developing cohesiveness as a unit after an admittedly predictably rocky start. The production is all pretty standard but it has a certain freshness to it that carries it along and the ensemble deliver the spirit of petrified camaraderie quite effectively.

I believe that war films should try to convey the terror of war, avoid idealism and respect some rudimentary military principles. Zvezda barely does the first. Zvezda being a Russian war film, I was expecting patriotism, sentimentality, beautiful poetic pictures, a lush score, Slavic cheekbones and cruel Germans. What I didn't need was the naive love non-affair, the unrealistically silly war scenes and the abuse of the syrupy soundtrack in a film which avoided carefully all historical or political references (Stalinism, Nazism, Holocaust) only to end on a passing but nonetheless insulting to our sense of history endnote about "liberating Poland". A missed opportunity as a film but not as propaganda apparently.

Just a very good movie about WW II. A true story about a small scout group with radio sign "The Star" (Zvezda) which got a task to find place of German tanks concentration. Two previous groups were lost and nobody knew where and how. The third group is completed by scouts from different fronts. "The Star" goes in both dark of night and obscurity understanding that enemy waits them leaving no chances to return. The movie stays in line with famous US movies like "Private Ryane" and "Thin Red Line". Very good battle scenes and music.

I hope this movie will be properly distributed. I would like to see it AGAIN in a proper cinema and subtitled (not dubbed ! that would be a shame).

The actors are all extremely natural and have realistic and interesting personalities.

The lady is not bad either !

This is a story , no, a legend, about a Russian WW2 reconnaisance group sent deep into German lines to gather information about the enemy's movement. Their callousing is ZVEZDA (Star). From there on the movie is a tale of heroism and glory, told in the strange Russian way. If you haven't watched it - do so, you will get a new understanding to the words duty, patriotism and love, never before seen on the big screen.A masterpiece of Russian cinematography and a fine example that a massive, epic movie can be shot outside the narrow boundaries of Hollywood.

The movie has its flaws - it is hard to understand for a person outside the Slav way of thinking, but it gives and insight to not only the war, but its human perspective in the Russian way of life.

Good movie but not as good as i hoped. Some very nice camera work and an interesting story but I find the acting less convincing also didn't I like the music. The movie shows a nice inside view about the legendary Russian `ghost' scouts' team. The strange unconvincing romance mix would have been best left out the story. It is a good movie worth watching, I rate the movie a 7 out of 10.

It was difficult to know in the beginning if this was a comedy or a drama because of the goofy dialogue, then it looked like it was going to be a romance. Then I remembered that all Soviet and Russian war films have silly dialogue and a female love interest.

The military aspects of the film are pretty ridiculous too. The unit is not only harassing the enemy, but acting as a reconnaissance unit also and reporting on the enemy. At one point they radio in that "there's lots of 21 owl 2" ( using the predetermined code for infantry, which isn't even necessary), but don't estimate the amount of infantry or give its location. In another scene they report in with a radio that has no transmitter antenna.

One reviewer, who cried at the end of this movie, and who clearly cannot make the distinction between movies and reality, said it's better than the completely fictional "Saving Private Ryan" because in the completely fictional "Saving Private Ryan", some of the soldiers question their orders.

The photography was very good, but of course they use the Hollywood tropes like blood erupting from a person's mouth to signal their death.

I didn't care much for it generally, but it's better than many Russian and Soviet war films.

What struck me about this film was how Very Russian it was. Having spent some time in the country, enough to get a sense of how Russians like to view themselves, this films themes felt very familiar. The depiction of the female radio operator, was so cliche, and well almost laughable. The band of scouts seemed to scream hey look we're PC, we even have a central Asian guy. The group also largely reminded me of the gang from Saving Private Ryan. There was even the weedyl little guy who is too afraid to shoot. All this said, its not a BAD film, its quite enjoyable, and its always interesting to see a WW2 film that is not from the Allied side. Alas though it falls short of greatness, well short due its insistence on dragging out all the old WW2 films tricks. You have seen this all before, the film offers nothing new. The thing that always irked me about Private Ryan, was the overtly sanctimonious/God Bless America style ending. The Star has an equally patriotic finale, but somehow the Russian patriotism is less galling. Overall a solid film, good even, but its been done.

this film is intense! throughout the film it grasps the audience's concentration. the way that some scenes are shot are very clever too. i wont elaborate as it may spoil the film for other people. war and the resultant deaths are portrayed to be cruel and brutal, and yet realistic. there are scenes that are so powerful, that only images are needed to convey the idea. no words needed at all, and yet we get to know what happened and we totally understand how the actors in the film feel. in summary this is such a powerful film that will move anyone to tears

Unabashed patriotic story of heroes and how the they won the battle. Somehow the West just doesn't make their war movies with the same glory without being corny. But remember it was their Great Patriotic Struggle and only they can tell the story!

I seen this movie about 10 times, its always damn nice 2 see it. Its the favourite movie of my cousin and in the way 4 people who likes seeing war movies its a pure god's gift 4 them, cause with this movie the russians could shows the world that there are always even exist good regiseurs and actors who can make such a hearttouching and interesting good movie. This movie has a typical russian movie-end like movies in the perestroika time(1986-1991).Because typical is the tragic end without happy end. Other russian movies like avaria-doch menta(1989), pomiluj i prosti(1988), katala(1989), kamyshovyj raj(1989), igla(1988)....have such a typical end, too.But it means not that the movie is bad, the movies are still good movies.

Hi!

Zvezda got two golden eagle (zolotoi oryol) prize for best cinematography and best music for Russian movies of 2002.

Theme music by guitar solo or strings orchestra portrays romantic love feeling of Katya, a young female soldier in front head quarter communication unit who loves "Zvezda" scout team leader lieutenant Trabkin.

Beside this is a serious and precise war combat story, this is romantic love story with lovely music.

I watched it with subtitles and it was easy to follow.