Panfilov's 28 Men

You won't believe that movie with the budget of 5 million dollars (by the time it was produced, now with the current currency value it is lower) can look like a 100 million dollars blockbuster. In the cinema it hits your brain like a truck. No CG-rendering of tanks, all those models of Pz-III, Pz-IV were scratch-built or borrowed from museums, though some models were smaller than real (like 1:1,5) and put after combined view processing. Guns shooting real bullets (experts of WWII might prove that), that's why sounds are real. All the blasts are real as well. Also the details of clothes, ammunition and tactics from both sides are perfectly given and approved by team of historical experts helping the director. The only woman in the movie takes like 16 seconds of your attention, all the 2 hours are about War. All in all, if you didn't understand earlier how Nazis lost 80% of their total armies in the East Front, that is a quite an example of real battle happened 16th November 1941 under Moscow near Dubosekovo (Petelino).

First off, don't pay attention to frostvortex's review since he/she is a troll spreading lies.

Panfilov's 28 battle is not a myth and is documentally proved by both Russian and German sources, the only inconsistency is the number 28 which is not correct. There were more than 100 fighters, and the movie also reflects that.

The movie is very dry but unique in its language. Don't expect anything Hollywood-like. It does not depict complex plots, flashbacks or tear-filled love story, no bursts of emotions, it does not have a main hero. It is almost documental since the viewer is indifferently thrown into one day of Panfilov's men life without being much prepared for it. No one cares about being introduced or explained to the viewer as everyone are busy preparing to fight the Nazi tanks. But each character's individuality can be recognized though the dialogs.

Next comes the battle which is just great. You have to hear that sound. You have to see it. No gibs, no gore, but it is really scary ang gives great impression of what Red Army soldiers have gone through. It literally puts you into their trench. Also, no super-heroes. Just the ordinary people who modestly gave their lives to stop the Nazis.

The level of realism and historical details is very high. You will see proper explosions, proper guns, proper tanks, proper uniforms and other things from that exact time.

Go and watch it.

A very strong film made with great respect to our ancestors who fought for life, for people, for Motherland. It is about simple people who contribute themselves to collective - and as positive feedback it helps them find right motivation, do better than they could and become real heroes. This film is about Heroes who faced the most horrific human evil and crushed it with their will. My great-fathers and great-mothers too stood before fascists and stopped them before Moscow. I feel no shame before them for this film, for it is truly brilliant. I wish all modern films about the Great Patriotic War were made with such soul, love and attention to details.

My thanks to all who created the film and to all who helped!

This is an excellent war film about a very straightforward story. Hold your position. That's it.

The protagonists are a group of Soviet soldiers from the Russian and -stan republics (Kazakhstan and co.) Not much importance is given to the characters (there's 28 of them, after all) but they have some very interesting discussions about nationhood, war, life and death, quite philosophical for a trench, without being unrealistic or preachy.

The bad guys don't need a lot of presentation. We've seen them before in other films, they're Nazis.

We are not given more, neither reasons to hate the Nazis (no preaching to a choir) or chest-thumping nationalism or an unsubtle "hidden" anti-Soviet message. The Nazis are advancing to Moscow. These guys want to stop them. It's black and white.

Many Russian movies take an opportunity to take a dig at Communism/Stalin at the same time, showing indifference from the state towards its soldiers or pure incompetence. There's none of that here. Politics are not present in this film and other than the usage of tovarishch (comrade) when addressing officers, one would not know that it was the Soviet Union, a communist state, in this battle.

There are no Soviet flags, no red anything really. It doesn't change the story either way. It was 28 men against a large group of tanks and infantry. It wasn't empire vs empire.

The action is beautifully done and very realistic. There is no unnecessary gore, blood, scalping, decapitation, etc. I don't know how realistic or unrealistic that is. I've seen movies that overdo it (a bullet to the chest causing a waterfall of blood), and although the depiction of gore doesn't bother me, overdoing anything gets boring quickly. In all cases, when people wearing layer upon layer of heavy winter coats get shot, you won't see a lot of blood.

The added bonus of not seeing blood is not knowing who is dead and who isn't, who is covered in earth and who is buried alive, who is mortally injured and who is just knocked out. The Russians can feign death and the Germans would not know it, but the Russians could also really be dead and their own men won't know it.

It adds a bit of mystery, unpredictability and suspense to the story.

The soundtrack is amazing, but let me qualify that. Most of this film is action, so it has action scene music with loud and low (bass) instruments, trumpets and so on. But they still found a way to add three unbelievably beautiful pieces: Rodina (Motherland), Vechnyy Ogon' (The Eternal Flame) and Zimnyy Vals' (Winter Waltz). They're worth buying the soundtrack for. They made me almost cry (at home. The film is not sad at all, at least not for me.)

Overall, a very entertaining, even if straightforward film. Best to watch it in the cinema as the experience there is better for such big films. This may not be a film one would want to watch multiple times, but it's really worth seeing, don't miss it.

As the first ever crowd-funded movie it came out amazing. The story about men who stood up for their country is not new in cinematography. But the way it was presented in this movie is very special. It's at the same time very simple and keeps you emotionally tense till the very end. The story about men who had to put on the table even more than they had. Who knew that they will die and most likely still won't stop the enemy but still did their best. Main characters are played by the actors of different nationalities that corresponds to the reality of the WWII, when the whole world stepped into a fight. Filming crew did an amazing work on battle action and special effects. This movie really touches the soul.