Battle for Sevastopol

I was riveted by this movie and I don't understand any Russian! This movie is absolutely about Lyudmila Pavlichenko and her recollections than it is about the "Battle of Sevastopol" any more than the movie "Enemy at the Gates" being a portrayal of the scope of the Battle of Stalingrad versus the adventures of Vasili Zaitzev. I would love to see this with English subtitles but would rather leave it 100% as with the actors speaking their parts in their native voices rather than have it butchered by dubbing. While there is a little stereotyping of communist leaders and their acts and gestures, the movie puts a human and personal touch on the real fighters of the Soviet Union in WW2, the young people who have to do the real fighting and would rather just live their lives in peace.

Most "heroes" never wanted the spotlight and didn't do what they did for glory or fame. A moving and powerful movie.

I think that it is quite a decent war movie, at par or better than "Enemy at the gates". There is very good performance for the main character. Cliché of Soviet communist organizer in US; but movie shall have a non good communist character, as real life had at the time. Very chilling and excellent scene of 10 year old girl reciting "Kill German" poem, and in all likelihood the girl was killed herself few months down the road. I waiting for English version to show to my friends, but translation going to be very difficult and will result in lower quality - a lot of important subtle messages in the movie is use of Russian, Ukranian dialect of Russian, and Ukranian languages, as well as some subtle elements to Russian-Jewish culture.

If you're expecting a film like Fortress of War (2010), you're mistaken just like i was because this is a biographical film focusing on Lyudmila Pavlichenko who's a Soviet Union female sniper with 309 confirmed kills. I agree with the other reviewer who said that the title's quite misleading, this film's not mainly about the battle in Sevastopol itself. I don't understand why they didn't get a more befitting title for this film.

With a non-linear storytelling style, this film shows the beforemath, the moment and the aftermath of the fearsome superiority of Pavlichenko aka "Lady Death" who hunted regular soldiers and officers in a battlefield during World War II. Yulia Peresild, who played Pavlichenko managed to portray the character really well. She's cold, suffering, heroic, and lovable, kinda reminds me of Mulan. I have to tell you the Russian dubbing for English parts are annoying, they should make Russian subtitles instead of dubbing. The war action scenes (shooting, camouflaging, covering, planning strategy, etc) even though interesting are too short which i'd estimate no more than 10% of the duration so it's overall drama and that's very unsatisfying.

So if you like films about snipers such as Enemy At The Gates, American Sniper, you have to check this one out. I'd say this is isn't as good as Enemy At The Gates but it's as interesting as American Sniper.

7/10

I would like to share with you my thoughts. First of all I loved the film. You get real war movie. The visuals was not really trouble. Although less spectacular element in it. Instead of a serious war drama I could compare the film. What WWII was transposed to the environment. The characters were well developed and realistic. Real emotion could be seen on their faces. What I liked even more the use of the camera. Very simple scenes have been able to make it interesting. It maintains the interest in the story. I would not compare this film to the film Enemy at the Gates. Those who look to a slower but more emotional love war drama to expect.

It's a weird time to see a joint Ukrainian and Russian film project to come out, considering the breakdown in relations between the two countries. The production apparently begun before the conflict, and it's an achievement in itself that it's been seen through, since a project like this probably wouldn't be possible today.

Coming in the wake of Russian WWII-themed schlock like Stalingrad (2013), I didn't expect too much, and there was a somewhat similar, almost gaudy quality present, but overall the movie was much more decent, particularly considering that its budget was about 5 times smaller than Stalingrad's. The actors were well cast, with Yuliya Peresild's performance creating a main character that can grow on you, and some interesting supporting characters. This brings me to the point that, despite the title, the movie's focus isn't as much on the port city of Sevastopol as it's on the Soviet sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko, and the movie being called "Battle for Sevastopol" betrays an apparent lack of confidence in selling a biopic of a female sniper. There's a fair amount of action in the movie, however, so I don't think that the kind of people who wouldn't go for a biopic would come away disappointed or feeling mislead.