Noi, cei din linia întâi

Sergiu Nicolaescu is at its worst in this propaganda movie about the valiant Romanian army in the 1945 campaign of the Soviet armies from Budapest to Berlin, well only to Budapest in this movie full of Stalinist cliches in ... 1985, the year of perestroika in Moskow, not so much in the so called 'independent' and maverick Romania Truly disgusting display of some notable Romanian actors forced ( or maybe not..) to debase themselves in this abomination of a Communist B movie.

Soviet military drinking with their Romanian brothers in arms is something that Nicolaescu knows a bit about, his uncle Nicolae Cambrea, a Soviet decorated prisoner of war on the Stalingrad campaign, had decided to defect the Royal Romanian Army and fight for the Soviets while bringing Russian Communism to Romania.

4 years later, in 1989, Sergiu Nicolaescu finds himself at the forefront of the New Romania, free of communism, in the same family tradition of switching sides and bank accounts.

The film has value as depiction of Romanian society in the 80s and the limits of freedom of expression in the Romanian Gulag in the last years of Communism, most of the actors making the transition to the freedom of expression of the 1990s with the same B movie acting qualities.

first word to say about it is - it is one of the most impressive Romanian war films. sure, if you do not ignore the context. because it has the ordinaries virtues of the series from the "80 decade - good actors, Sergiu Nicolaescu, a love story, dramatic moments, one of the most seductive roles of George Alexandru and a form of freshness, one of sources being the performance of Anda Onesa. discovered out of political context, it could be perceived as fake, strange. but, for that time, this mix of romance, heroism and fights, the grow up of a young, honest, ambitious and vulnerable officer in the middle of fight , remains a good thing. and, maybe, for the viewers from 1985, it is the most important detail.

This movie, to be honest is the best movie i have ever seen, despite the poor money resources Sergiu Nicolaescu had. This movie, is actually the best war movie ever made, but it isn't recognized by the International Academy of Foreign Movies.

In this movie, you shall see the true face of the II-nd World War, in it's true face. Sergiu Nicolaescu, had many problems with the Romanian government during the communist's reign. Initially, the movie wasn't accepted, but many people, knowing that it is illegal to view it, started watching it in cinemas.

This production has two parts, and, I guarantee that it has the best special effects anyone has ever seen until that year. OK, there are other movies that have better effects.

The Second World War was for almost all the soldiers involved, a constant struggle to survive, especially in the last part. This movie have war fighting scenes extremly accurate and real, without exaggerations like in most of the american or english movies, where one soldier kill an army of enemies by himself without been even hurt. The heroes of this movie are normal people in the middle of a war that it must be won or else. You must see this movie !

This is one of the worst Romanian war movie ever , because it looks like American propaganda war movie directed by Romanian communist .The battle scenes are hilarious, 5-6 fake Panzers sitting ducks until some Romanian soldiers with grenades (!) destroyed them, one general ask for a machine gun and join the battle ( against all military rules ), from time to time you can see German soldiers holding Russian machine guns, German general use same car ( Russian ) as Romanian general etc ... Most characters act unbelievable for a bunch of untrained peasants and the history tell us different story about the way Romanian army fought in WWII . And finally, like in all dumb Romanian war movies, most of the characters must die in the most stupid way. Like ...the last German soldier , with the last bullet , in the last second of the war will kill our near and dear hero bla bla bla . The effort of the director to show a glorious well trained army goes like dust in the wind when faces the sharp blade of historical reality. Truth is that untrained Romanian army betrayed Germany after 4 years of alliance for Russian balalaika ...and after 50 years betrayed Russian balalaika for the American "goodies" .Knowing these facts you cannot "enjoy" the stupid heroic story on the screen . Better watch "wheels of terror" after a Sven Hassle novel , looks 1000 times more real than this crappy movie .