Train de guerre: Le corridor de l'espoir

The Siege of Leningrad, also known in Russia as the Leningrad Blockade was part of Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany. The forces deployed against the city included the Wehrmacht's Army Group North, Finnish and Italian troops and smaller contingents from other fascist countries like Spain. The siege lasted from September 1941 to January 1944. The objective was to fulfill Hitler's very explicit directive: to exterminate the entire population of Leningrad and raze the city to the ground. That failed, but nearly 1.5 million Soviet civilians and soldiers died, the former from bombing and shelling but mostly from starvation and sickness.

To keep the city alive supplies were desperately needed. A road was opened between Leningrad and Lake Ladoga that continued across the lake. Watercraft were used in summer; in winter, they were replaced by trucks and a railway laid over the frozen lake. To operate the railway was hair raising dangerous; besides the ever present peril of the ice cracking, the trains were under constant artillery and aerial attacks. The road was known as the Corridor of Life or Corridor of Immortality, the Russian title of this film.

I liked very much the fist hour and a half; there are many genuinely moving scenes. Near the ending, it goes a little Hollywood and quality diminishes. Also, it is too long. Nevertheless, it is worth watching. First rate special effects, excellent acting and fluid, dynamic direction.

One could say that this is certainly a good movie which should be viewed especially by younger generations to remind them about on which ground they live and what have been done by predecessors to provide them with such a careless life as we have today. However, I would say that watching this requires some time and effort as well as certain mood and state of mind (generally speaking, requires some preparing), because the main idea is brought via obsolete methods and not correlate with language which is simply understood by the current society (surely, not at all - there are some groups of people who understands this and will accept this fully), but I am talking about the fact that this is not easy-comprehensive object in the context of (post) modern life and primarilly refers to what have been created in past. I am not saying that the main idea of this movie is bad - I am just saying that this is presented in way which is not valuable anymore and developing contemporary culture as well as most of people requires something a kind of different despite those who interested in or affected by the described events directly will (possibly) love this. Should be noted that expressing such an idea cannot be committed via just embedding it in the current culture - as writing a book in the manner of Dmitrii Glukhovskii. It seems to me that in both cases should happen disappearing of interest in younger generation and needed another approach, using which they could came to think of that by themselves - and I would also mention that if we aim to apply it to lots of people we will meet significant hardnesses. As a conclusion - a good movie, but you should be either prepared to understand and translate this in application to current state of humanity's developing (not the easiest task) either be attracted by history of your country.

There are plenty of great movies based on Russia's role in the war, but this is just a propaganda movie, and a really bad one at that. It avoids anything that doesn't show the Russians in good light, and never misses an opportunity to show how kind and thoughtful people were to each other. The acting is average to terrible. The story is one dimensional and weak. And the dialogue is terrible, really corny. I sat watching, shaking my head and laughing to myself at how bad it it. You would see better story lines and acting in a low budget soap opera. The camera work is its only redeeming feature. Nice framing and movement, its just a shame there's nothing of substance to go with it.

This is a very long film. It really dragged in some places, but maybe that's because I'm not Russian, and so maybe I didn't get into the story as much as I would have. In my defense, I missed many of the subtitles because they went by very quickly, so I had to rewind many times and pause several times, but more often, I didn't even bother.

The effects were kind of lame. Whenever the Germans sent an artillery "barrage" it was only two shells at a time, and they weren't very explosive.

Having said that, the acting was good, and the script wasn't stupid. It seems that Russian filmmakers are now tryin to produce good motion pictures. It had the requisite romance subplot that at Soviet/Russian films about the war have, of course. It seems like an important story, too. I didn't know that a railroad bridge to Leningrad was built across the from lake that the city is in. I knew Leningrad was on an island and that the Germans blockaded it, but I only knew that the Russians trucked in supplies across the frozen water to get food and medicine to the starving and sick residents of the city.

All-in-all, I didn't regret watching it like I do most Soviet/Russian films.

Fascinating film about a micro-story of war within the context of the Battle of Leningrad. The film is masterful in all its parts, with well-constructed characters and highly believable actors. The narrative construction and scene sequences are built with an exceptionally high cinematic level, maintaining narrative tension from the first frame to the last. The viewer is transported to a perfectly recreated setting, enabling them to experience the tension, drama, and distressing sensations of the wartime experiences that many young Russians and women had to endure, employed in combat, logistics, and various service roles.

Noteworthy is the work of the young and courageous Russian women who went above and beyond their stereotyped feminine roles of the era - and unfortunately even today - to contribute with their efforts and lives to the resistance against the Nazi oppressor. This film is another example of contemporary Russian production, adding to the extensive showcase of Russia's cinematic capability, which has nothing to envy in comparison to the best Hollywood productions in the war genre, often filled with biased perspectives and invented heroes. In this film, heroes are defined by their collective small acts rather than the grandiosity of constructing a cinematic superman who can do anything.