Soldaty svobody

The late Yuri Ozerov knew how to make huge, epic, multi-character, grand, loud, tense films. He made several, mostly about World War II, as well as some documentaries about sports. This time, in 1977, he made 4 films, of about 95 minutes each, about certain (now former) eastern European pro-Soviet bloc countries, their fight against Nazi and their heroic deeds as partisans, freedom fighters and real daredevils. What was not so good about this epic? It was shot in 1977, when Leonid Brezhnev ruled the largest country in the world, and the films are all very biased on to Soviet favor. Communists are everywhere, they are brave, clever, smart, cool and hot. The future leaders of Soviet Poland, Czechoslovakia,Bulgaria, Hungary, Romanis and Yugoslavia are all depicted in a very flattering way, as smart and wise thinkers, extremely brave soldiers and cool men. OK, let's put that aside. What is good about this epic? Ozerov's sheer genius as a battle scenes maker. Huge amount of stunts, real tanks, huge budget, really thrilling battle sequences. This epic must be watched with a large grain of salt. But still it is very god one.

A way to enjoy this movie, is like going to a museum which contains a lot of over-sized paintings, depicting battle-scenes from WW2. If you enjoy those kind of paintings, you must be most likely a history buff or art student. This movie is not for people who enjoy the classically formulated drama, action or adventure story, or being terribly offended by soviet propaganda. Watch it with a grain of salt. This is rather an art form movie not unlike Leni Riefenstahls "Triumph of the Will". You see the actors of post war Communist Leaders of Europe in glorified historical situations. No expanse was spared when it came to recreate key battle scenes from the east European theater of war.Those scenes are still amazing, even in the dawn of computer-animation, because here 10'000's of soviet army soldiers where used as extras. Tank's, Airplanes and other weapons are clearly vintage equipment, even better than in "The Liberation" (Osvobodsheniye). My favorite scene: A beautiful female Russian Soldier Girl being accompanied by an army orchestra, in front of a few thousand soldiers, sings the song of "The Beautiful Darkhaired Moldavian Girl" Very moving and wonderful performance.