Shtrafbat

Many experienced and excellent actors mixed together in an ongoing plot of an untold part of world war II on the eastern front. Characters well portrayed and unforgettable. One episode leaves you wishing for the next. Pay attention to the closing credits were the thousands of Shtrafbat battalions are listed. An untold story involving hundreds of thousands of individuals. Sometimes brutal, sometimes romantic, always filled with real people and dialog. Produced with excellent sets and camera work. Heroes and villains, criminals and priests, patriots and traitors. Portrait of people struggling to survive and overcome a most terrible time. I wish to buy a copy for my own collection so to be able to enjoy the series repeatedly.

With the war not going well for the Soviet Union, Stalin accepted volunteers from the prisons and used the prisoners as shock troops. This is the story of one such battalion. There are petty crooks, political prisoners, soldiers kicked out of other units, gray-haired veterans of the White Army plus some dangerous criminals.

They are thrown into battle ill-equipped, untrained and face the threat of the NKVD if they show signs of cowardice or failure.

The special effects are rudimentary and many of the minor characters are one-dimensional, but the overall story is very human and riveting.

I have not seen a version with subtitles or dubbing. Viewing the show required liberal use of the pause button and explanations from a native speaker of Russian.

Life in the Soviet Union's penal battalions was horrific, and this series does a wonderful job of portraying the ugly reality for many persons who perished during the second world war. It is not for the faint-hearted, and certainly extremely realistic when it comes to the ugliness of patriarchal society, and the vision men had (have) of women, many times as mere sex-objects. Certainly the series explores the basal level of the ugliness of human nature, which makes it that much more believable. Its only detriment, is a cheap politicised usage of religion, especially for Russian nationalistic purposes (otherwise it would have merited a "9 star" rating). Overlook it, and the production is truly a masterpiece of war drama.

"Shtrafbat" (2004), an 11-part TV series, is about Soviet Army battalions made up of many kinds of prisoners, hoping to be "rehabilitated" of their "crimes".

"Shtrafbat" (Punishment or Penal Battalions) were made up of deserters, political prisoners, and former POWs who had returned from German captivity (according to Stalin: allowing ones-self to be captured alive & imprisoned was akin to surrendering, & surrendering was considered to be treason, a crime punishable by death), and even "regular" criminals sent from prison-camps, so the suspicion that these people wouldn't fight well, or might even surrender, was high. These "criminals" were "graciously" allowed "a second chance" by the government, a chance to "wash away their past sins with their own blood."

These "Shtrafbat" were sent on the most dangerous and difficult missions (i.e. those with low survivability) and were followed into battle by troops who were called "Zagrad-Otryad" (Blocking Troops), and were under NKVD (precursor to the KGB) control. Sometimes these troops were almost as large as the actually fighting units they blocked. They were under orders to shoot any Soviet soldiers who were thought to be retreating, be they wounded or not.

The few "Shtrafbat" soldiers who lived through it for some months, were considered rehabilitated and returned to regular army units. The KIAs were rehabilitated posthumously, sparing their families from being branded as families of traitors, "enemies of the Soviet people."

Just saw two episodes. Such a refreshing view, despite the grim subject, to see actors playing the story and not their narcissism. Perhaps it's the script but I don't know. These actors are great. The absence of big bucks is funny sometimes, battle scene in minefield, but then artistic. I haven't watched Band of Brothers end to end. Hear it is very good. But to see real passion and not sentimentality, argument and not posing, the glimpses of the women are amazing, the clarity of the narrative, the steady invention with the camera without being arty, and the absence of gratuitous gore. All left to the actors and story. Anyway, just a joy.