KV1: Almas de Ferro

This film begins in World War 2 with a young Russian officer by the name of "Semyon Konovalov" (Andrey Chernyshov) scanning the area with his binoculars and to his horror finding a German panzer aiming its gun directly at the tank he is on. When the shell hits it he is thrown out into a field and all but one member of his crew is killed. Thinking that everyone is dead the German panzer then moves on to another Russian tank stuck in the mud leaving both Russian soldiers to be picked up afterward and taken to a surgical hospital for life-saving treatment. Once recovered Semyon is assigned to a military school as an instructor to train new tankers on Russian tactics. Eventually, after much insistence on his part, he is then sent back to the field where he is given a KV-1 heavy tank to command and it's at this time that the film really takes off. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a very good "tank film" which incorporates a realistic military background, good drama and some excellent special effects and action. It was only after reading that it was inspired by true events that I did some research and found some very noticeable embellishments that were totally unnecessary and led to a slightly lower score than I had originally given. For example, the entire situation with Semyon's wife "Pavla Chumak" (Olga Pogodina) was rather difficult to accept once I had finished my research. There were other minor issues here and there but that particular one aside, this was still a good film for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Above average.

Unless you have a thing for Soviet armor, I would say that you should give this movie a miss. It's supposed to be about the second battle of Rostov in July 1942, but it looks like it's been shot in the same muddy field in northern Russia. The makers might have heard about tactics, but if they have, they have promptly forgotten almost everything. Tank vs tank combat is often within spitting distance, and the Germans appear to be dropouts from the Imperial Stormtrooper Academy of Shooting. Meanwhile, the Soviets hit with almost every round, and every hit is a penetrating killshot. The German tanks must have cardboard armor, though, as in one scene, a tank is knocked out by two hand grenades tossed at it. While the "star" is a KV-1 tank (a rare bird in war movies), most other tanks are T-34/85, which weren't used until a year and a half later. All German tanks are supposed to be PzKpfw IV ausf. F2, but that tank was quite rare by that time. It's more likely that the real battle involved short-barreled PzKpfw IV's and IIIs with the 5 cm gun. The German tanks all sport side armor skirts (Schürzen), which were introduced in early 1943. They are probably there to hide the fact that the tanks are converted T-55s. The Soviets are a motley crew of comrades, and only the political commissar is a bit slimy. The acting is OK, but a few actors stand out as pretty wooden. There's never really any real suspense, as the tank crew (while suffering losses) manage to defeat almost every German tank, even when the enemy assault with an entire company. The script has a love story of sorts, which appears to be there just to make girlfriends endure this rather mediocre 90-minute movie.

Accuracy 10

The KV-1 was a Heavy Tank and had the same problems as the German Panzer 6 aka Tiger Tank Heavy Tank. Especially, getting stuck in Russia's mud, due to limited improved roads. The U.S. Caterpillar tractor transmission design as the KV-1 transmission was prone to failure. The few Panzer 6s aka Tiger Tanks were sent to the Western Front, not the Eastern Front.

The majority of the German tanks sent to Russia were Panzer III and Panzer IV Medium tanks with guns not capable of penetrating the KV-1 Heavy tank amour. Depicted are Panzer IV Medium Tanks with bolted on additional turret armour.

To defeat the heavy (thick) armour of the KV-1 the Germans created the Sturmgeschütz with the 75 mm Pak 40,

The few Panzer V aka Panther Medium Tank had a gun capable of penetrating the KV-1 tank amour. But because of the Low Ground clearance ended up stuck in Russia's mud, unlike the High Ground clearance of the T-34.

During the Battle of Stalingrad, the workers at the Russian Tank Factories were producing as many tanks as their lives depended on that. Many Men and Women ended up as Tank Crews. All the Russian Factories sent out Repair Teams of Men and Women to Field Units.

The T-34 with an 85mm gun was made starting 1944.

Over the last decades war movies have become more realistic, showing the horrors and terrifying experiences soldiers of all nations are exposed to under battle. Since 1945 German war movies have almost always been Anti-war movies, like "Die Brücke", "Das Boot" and later "Stalingrad" and therefore leaving the audience depressive after viewing it. American War movies have mostly been glorifying vehicles for some kind of hero, which made them a bigger hit at the box office. That has basically first begun to change with "Apocalypse Now" and later the brilliant "Saving Private Ryan". British war movies are maybe kind of in-between and very well narrated with "1917" as the most recent, brilliant example. Most of those successful war movies have in common, that they bring us the persons and the events closer with high credibility and get the audience emotionally connected to the main characters - that is not the case with "The Tankers". The strange behavior of the male main character tank commander Konovalov towards his wife/ex wife, entering the story as a brilliant tank engineer, is never really explained. He is only described as a brilliant tactician but egocentric and ruthless man, for whom it is quite difficult to evolve any kind of sympathy. The background/charcters of the other tank crew members are only described on the surface if at all, they don't have their own story. But they all die "nicely" with "sleeping" eyes and as man doing their duty. You just don't buy it. The movie promotes the heroic efforts of his KV 1 tank crew under the battle of Rostov and it is certainly understandable that Mosfilm would like to give the russian audience russian heros - they just didn't touch me.

They put some efforts in the tank battle scenes and usually russian war movies are, when it comes to WW II tanks and material, more accurate than western movies. But the fighting scenes are just not convincing at all! 10+ German Panzerkampfwagen IV attacking one russian KV 1 tank exposed on a hill top with the apparently long range 75 mm KwK 40 which could penetrate 40 mm steel on 700 m distance, making no significant damage at all!! Even without being a nerd, when watching those scenes, the movie almost appears comic-like. The movie show a lot of russian war material and if you are interested in that it's worth watching, but it never get's you carried away.

The battle scenes among the tanks kept me watching indeed. Perhaps because of the quality of the sound of my DVD and the lack of soundtracks found in some other films, this film did seem more mediocre o me - although the tank scenes were good and some parts still enticed me to see what would happen next. Not a bad film - but less impressive than many other Russian war films indeed. Definitely, far from the movie "T-34"