Good concept, poorly executed.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

For those interested in WW2 or not, this movie is a masterpiece and for a change not made by Hollywood, but a high budget film made by one of the the nations that has had to deal with the madness and suffering of this pointless slaughter at the eastern front. It may frighten American/British viewers not used to subtitles, but do not miss it because of that. It has among the greatest younger generation of German actors in their early roles before Hollywood careers (Thomas Kretschmann!). This really brings out the futility of this campaign and focuses mainly on the Wehrmacht, not psychotic Waffen SS-stereotypes.It is painful to watch, yes, mostly focused on a platoon, certain character portraits from the German side, not the Russian side, but is in no way glorifying or justifying the Nazi ideology. It's just a very realistic, gruesome portrait of the insanity of war and waste of human lives.Do not miss out on this one!

A depiction of the brutal battle of Stalingrad, the Third Reich's 'high water mark', as seen through the eyes of German officer Hans von Witzland (Thomas Kretschmann) and his battalion.There is something historically and culturally significant about this film. One, as an American, history is very much taught in this country from an American point of view. That may not be a bad thing, but it leaves us with the impression that America won World War II. That is true in the general sense, but it was the Soviet Union that defeated Hitler. The Americans were much more involved with Japan. So to have films that focus on Russia during World War II is always good.But two, it is interesting to see films like this come out of Germany. You walk a fine line. Obviously, you want to be proud of your country and part of that is being proud of military victories. But, at the same time, you don't want to praise the Nazi regime or suggest that what they did was right. How you promote the bravery of soldiers without endorsing their fight is tough, but this film seems to make a serious effort at doing so.

I have wanted to watch this film for many years but only got around to it last week. Many reviewers have highlighted the fact that this is not a Hollywood treatment, which can be a positive. But for anyone who has been exposed to the realism of Saving Private Ryan and similar movies, the absence of Hollywood production values and standards of acting and realism make Stalingrad hard to take seriously. It is highly theatrical, in the sense that the acting is over the top and the motivations and actions of most of the characters do not line up with anything that I'd call realistic, in terms of what I have read about the battle itself or based on what one would consider believable human behavior. Very simplistic in all respects. Probably would have been quite OK in 1993, when it was released, but by today's standards, not something I would recommend.

A battalion of German soldiers from the Afrika Corps are spending some time at an Italian port during the summer of 1942. At that particular time their spirits were high as the German army was in the process of advancing victoriously into Russia. But all that was subject to change as their next assignment would be: Stalingrad. And they had no idea what was in store for them. At any rate, told from the German perspective, this film does a remarkable job of showing the hardships and tragedy these soldiers had to endure. Despite proving themselves in battle, their courage and discipline was being tested as much by the Russian winter as it was their Russian foes. And yet they continued on all the same. Now, while everybody knows how this battle eventually played out, this movie allows the viewer to gain a unique understanding of how it may have appeared through the eyes of the German soldier. Definitely worth a watch for those who can appreciate a film of this type.