Nochnye lastochki

Excellent television series of very high technical and narrative quality. All the characters are highly believable, and the setting is very well recreated. It's a great approach to the mythical figures of these female Russian aviators, specialized in nighttime bombing during the sadly notorious WW2 Russian campaign.

Despite being a TV production, using relative technical and financial resources, the result is of extremely high cinematic quality, on par with the best multimillion-dollar Hollywood productions. This series, similar to the American "Band of Brothers" but with a much lower budget, faithfully brings to life the wartime atmosphere of a group of soldiers, this time women, and their human experiences in a context as tremendous as war. For those who want to delve deeper into the subject, I recommend watching the film "V nebe 'Nochnye vedmy'" from 1981, which is about the same group of women aviators.

This is a very good drama series that draws you in with action and relationship dynamics. The script does credit to the Russian production and the cast acted convincingly so that you get immersed in the goings on. I had no trouble seeing past what are, at times, rather simple graphics of the aircraft and quickly accepted that as the style of the piece, while the overall drama was really absorbing. They could easily have spent millions more without any improvement in the real quality of the thing. The drama is a condensation of many separate, real events. It feels odd to be exposed to such fine actors as Elizaveta Nilova and Tatyana Arntgolts who have no other US/European exposure. It leaves you wanting more of the stars and another series. OK, its not John Wick or Private Ryan for violence - it brings in humour and romance. It isn't going to be every war film fan's cup of tea, but if you want something cerebral, based on an incredible piece of history, this will do fine.

Interesting and enjoyable. War series are always difficult to portray in scale, technically, and in context; however, I appreciated the telling of the experiences and perspective of these unique pilots.

I've seen many post-Soviet series. From a technical point of view, Night Swallows was quite good: excellent cast, mostly believable characters, authentic equipment, good sound and photography, etc. But as the series went on, the plots just became more and more unbelievable. When they got to their version of "The Dirty Dozen" I had enough and stopped watching. I wish they had stuck to the basic story of the female pilots.

While not a technically great film, The Night Swallows is worth watching if you are at all interested in military aviation and female aviation history. The film gives a basic insight into a brave group of female pilots, referred to as the Night Witches by the German military, who flew outdated aircraft on night harassment missions. A little frustrating was that the entire film is be based on a relatively short period during a single winter. No matter, it remains worth watching as it appears to be the only film or series available on the Night Witches.