STALINGRAD

When it comes to telling the story of the decisive history-altering Battle of Stalingrad then you would think that a Russian film would capture the true essence of the story. After all, surely native filmmakers could captures the raw emotion and human tragedy involved on screen? Sadly, the answer in this case is no. Right from the very start there are problems, we get a framing story - the purpose of which is seemingly to tie the film in to the modern age. Now I’m not an expert on Russian culture but I would guess that the impact of World War 2 and Stalingrad is still pretty well known. From this framing story we get a narration that runs through the film giving us the characters’ backstories in the most melodramatic manner possible. Another tactical misstep comes in the film’s battle scenes. In an effort to make these sequences stand out the director seems to have taken a page out of, of all people, Zach Snyder’s book. As the film 300 existed in a strange comic-book-come-to-life-like-reality, the bursts of slow motion during the action scenes worked within the film’s context. Why anyone thought the same would work here is beyond me, you can’t go from your comrades sitting brooding about their pre-war lives to scenes with them bayoneting enemy tropes in almost music video style slow motion. The scenes themselves are quite good they just don’t fit in with the rest of the movie. This is shame because the performances are generally good ,the actors are giving their all, however, much like the hard-pressed Russian army on the front lines, unsupported by good script or solid direction. FINAL VERDICT 4/10 fails to live up to either the scope or the human drama of the story it’s trying to tell.