Wombat-15

Very much worth viewing. I caught it on Turner Classic Movies recently, and was very pleasantly surprised by the quality of this film.

This film transcends the limitations of the sensibilities of the time and the special effects available to movie makers. It makes no sweeping statements or judgments about war and aggression. It simply gives you a glimpse of what it was like to live and die in the trenches of The Great War.

Although not as intense as "All Quiet on the Western Front" (whose subject matter it shares), it has its moments of artistry. It is also more narrowly focused than "All Quiet..", but its story is compelling and riveting. Should be in anybody's serious list of worthy war movies.

Viewing both parts together of this Russian version of Tolstoy's War and Peace, it seems that every word and scene of the novel is on-screen. It took the Russian army to provide enough extras for the incredible battle scenes. Only the Russian steppes could provide a stage big enough for the recreation of the Battle of Borodino. They will stay in your memory for a long time. The scale, the sweep of Napoleon's thrust into Russia, the tens of thousands of extras, the thousands of cannon, cavalry, muskets, dead soldiers, are all an amazing movie experience. And, the battles are just a small part of the whole movie.

Saw this movie only once, in the late 60's. I still remember it quite clearly. A close-up, unflinching look at the horror and futility of war. The endless, bleak Russian steppes, the shattered cities, the ice-bound winter landscapes, all combine to show how hopeless the German invasion was.

The winter retreat is one of the most frightening and depressing scenes in the movie, but it is just one of several. The film follows several characters through the war in interwoven threads, and each one is memorable.

I am eager to see this on video.