- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
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- 18,424
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
The beautifully produced documentary, Stalingrad, has fortuitously landed with a distribution entity that acknowledges its power and importance, and has given us a proper 1.78 anamorphic release of the English dubbed version.
Originally presented on both Russian and German television, this 165 minute, three part documentary, tells of the plight of German soldiers in the Third Army and their attack on Stalingrad, which decimated first the city, and then the people all to the personal need of Hitler.
Told through copious amounts of war footage, much seen here for the first time, along with first person accounts in the form of on camera interviews with both Russian and German troops, the film is a spell-binding document into the horrors of war. And as one German officer sent to debrief directly to Hitler and his staff in an attempt to make Hitler understand the unspeakable plight of his military, the fact that by early in 1943, Hitler had refused to accept what was occurring, and had an altered sense of reality.
Stalingrad, from Synapse tells the other side of their release of Reifenstahl's Triumph of the Will. While the first film details the 1934 Reich Party Day in all its glory, four years before Hitler began to cross borders, the second details with visions of absolute horror, the beginning of the demise of the Third Reich and the turning point of WWII, as winter fell over Stalingrad toward the end of 1942.
One of the great documentaries of recent years, finally released in full quality by Synapse.
While this film contains images and descriptions of war that are not for younger audiences, Stalingrad leaves us with a message about taking war far from home, that reverberates in truths over six decades later.
Highly recommended.
RAH
Originally presented on both Russian and German television, this 165 minute, three part documentary, tells of the plight of German soldiers in the Third Army and their attack on Stalingrad, which decimated first the city, and then the people all to the personal need of Hitler.
Told through copious amounts of war footage, much seen here for the first time, along with first person accounts in the form of on camera interviews with both Russian and German troops, the film is a spell-binding document into the horrors of war. And as one German officer sent to debrief directly to Hitler and his staff in an attempt to make Hitler understand the unspeakable plight of his military, the fact that by early in 1943, Hitler had refused to accept what was occurring, and had an altered sense of reality.
Stalingrad, from Synapse tells the other side of their release of Reifenstahl's Triumph of the Will. While the first film details the 1934 Reich Party Day in all its glory, four years before Hitler began to cross borders, the second details with visions of absolute horror, the beginning of the demise of the Third Reich and the turning point of WWII, as winter fell over Stalingrad toward the end of 1942.
One of the great documentaries of recent years, finally released in full quality by Synapse.
While this film contains images and descriptions of war that are not for younger audiences, Stalingrad leaves us with a message about taking war far from home, that reverberates in truths over six decades later.
Highly recommended.
RAH
