Really Surprised!

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

It is the story of Spanish prisoners of War in Soviet Rusia during the second world war.The story is very good, possibly because it is based on actual accounts by survivors, and is filmed with surprisingly good quality. Unfortunately much is spoiled by stupid propaganda moments which are totally fictitious.These spaniards where among 50,000 who volunteered to fight the Soviet Union in Hitlers armies in the "Division Azul", to some extent in repayment for German Luftwafe "Legion Condor" sent to support the military upraising in the Spanish Civil war. They were mainly sent to fight in Leningrad.The film depicts quite dramatically life in a Soviet prisoner of war camp. Do bear in mind that German generals, when preparing the invasion of Rusia, did not expect to be able to feed large number of soviet prisoners of war, and up to 3,5million soviet prisoners died, mainly of starvation. Hence Soviets where quite harsh on their own prisoners, and you may recall that of the 200.000 German prisoners taken in Stalingrad, barely 5.000 returned alive.The film, in part due to its propaganda zeal, depicts quite realistically the harsh life of the prisoners, and it is quite well filmed, managing to transmit the cold of the Russian winter and the toughness of post war Rusia.Unfortunately it was filmed under Franco's regime, and the protagonist characters are filled with nationalist catholic propaganda. Several speeches are made which are unrealistic and out of place. I would personally edit out most of these to be left with a surprisingly good war drama, quite unique as it centers on life in a soviet prisoner camp.