I love this movie so much

Undescribable Perfection

Great Film overall

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

The movie is very good. Patriotic I don't find it. War here is shown by eyes of the simple soldier. The war beginning on territories of the USSR, retreat of Red Army, contempt of the Russian people remaining in occupation. To me already 43 and I watched the movie several times. And always, when I reach a scene of wound of Zvyagintsev (Bondarchuk), at me tears in the eyes when to it do operation without an anesthesia act. His sufferings is pain of the simple soldier (Russian, German, the American, the Englishman). Simple soldiers get glory to the powers. Probably the doctor who is taking out splinters from a back of Zvyagintsev is the state which here so simply can pick nippers human soul. In the movie there is all - battle scenes, humour, the drama. I don't think that it is patriotic. Yes, the producer of the movie was Department Of Defence the USSR. But the scenario and direction were done by Bondarchuk therefore promotion in the movie practically isn't present. It is a pity that when translating from Russian the meaning of many phrases is lost.

Russian production. Genre ; WW 2 drama.1975. Based on the novel by Mikhail Sholokhov. Screenplay and direction by Sergei Bondarchuk with Vasili Shukshin ( as Poitr Lopakhin ), Vyaheslav Tikhonov ( as Nikolay Strltsov ), Sergei Bondarchuk ( as Ivan Zvyagintsev ), Georgi Burkov ( as Alexandr Kopytovskij ), Nikolai Gubenko ( as the Lieutenant ), Yuri Nikulin ( as Nekrasov ), Ivan Lapikov ( as Poprischenko ) & Nonna Mordyukova ( as Natalya Stepanova ). The film is based on the book by Nobel Prize winning author Mikhail Sholokhov. The action is set in Russia in July of 1942. The exhausted Soviet army was in full retreat against the might of the invading German Panzer divisions. A decision is to hold a ridge with what is left of an infantry regiment near a small village on the banks of the River Don, to allow the exhausted remnants of the army enough time to withdraw across the river and help fortify Stalingrad for the decisive battle that must come.The loss of Russian life during the campaign was horrific and while there are some impressive set battle pieces, the film concentrates on the exploits of half a dozen or so soldiers from the shattered regiment, who must not retreat even in the face of the Panzers' greater fire power. The film depicts the thoughts and fears of the individual soldiers in the face of the impending battle, and their thoughts of their Mother Russia as well. While the battles rage, the viewer is not only shown the inhumanity of the conflict, but also the strong personal bonds that develop between comrades in arms in a deadly conflict. There is also plenty of humor in the script, even if it is often grim and tinged with violent overtones. Vasili Shukshin ( as Poitr Lopakhin ) takes the acting honors, with a character that is as much larrikin as it is proletariat.

Its 1942. The war in Russia is going badly for the Russians. They are being slowly pushed back by the ever advancing Nazis. This is the story of a regiment who's slowly dwindling numbers try to survive and remain optimistic as they continue to try to prevent the enemy from ever reaching Stalingrad.This is a great war movie. As with all Sergei Bondarchuk films this is a movie that makes you think and feel by showing you what its like to be a lone man in a huge situation. We get to go inside the heads of the various characters and we see what its like to be in battle. The battle scenes are good as the Russian soldiers simply try to survive the strafing, the bombing and to keep the Germans far enough away that they don't have a good chance at killing them.In someways this film reminded me of Terrence Malicks's Thin Red Line which used similar techniques at times (for example: subjective camera, manipulation of the soundtrack, disjointed flashback.) Actually this movie reminded me of several other war films produced after its release and I'm curious if film makers like Francis Ford Coppola and others studied copies of this all but impossible to see film when they made things like Apocalypse Now.As good as the film is it isn't perfect. The film can come off as a bit too "rah rah" for mother Russia at times, even though the film ultimately speaks to the larger question of defending one's own home land. The film also is a bit unfocused in the second half as the film takes some odd turns; then again the second half has some of its most powerful imagery with the young nurse trying to save the wounded man in the bomb crater and the return of one soldier from hospital.See this movie. Its a great great war war film which only suffers when compared to some of the gems in the Sergei Bondarchuk back catalog of films.

If u never seen this movie, you probably lost great part of "cinema" history. Best russian actors in most dramatic scenes of World War II ... it's like our fathers fought for us. I dont know if that possible to find this movie on english, but you must try.