A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Blistering performances.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

This has three virtues: 1 the archive footage 2 the skillful implementation of the era and its environs (courtesy of 1!) 3 an illustration of self serving apparatchiks in any regime - regardless. Mueller has to be the paradigm, who shows what was wrong with 'soviet Russia'. Because of this one has to wonder if this series shows that there were still people aware of this. Bodhisattavas perhaps?

'Seventeen Moments of Spring' is a 1973 Soviet twelve-part television mini-series, based on the novel of the same title by Yulian Semyonov.The series was immensely popular in the Soviet Union, and during its first showing, city streets would empty. It attracted greater audiences than hockey matches and crime rates dropped significantly during the broadcasts. Leonid Brezhnev was a devoted fan. The character of Stirlitz became the Soviet James Bond.In early 1945, while Adolf Hitler (Fritz Diez) is determined to continue the war, Walter Schellenberg (Oleg Tabakov), his head of foreign intelligence, has convinced Heinrich Himmler (Nikolai Propkovich) to conduct secret negotiations with the Americans, aimed at forging a separate peace between Germany and the Western Allies, which would allow the Germans to concentrate all their forces on the Eastern Front. Maksim Isaev (Vyacheslav Tikhonov), a Soviet spy who has infiltrated the Nazi Party in Germany under the name Stirlitz, is tasked with disrupting the negotiations between the German general Karl Wolff (Vasily Lanovoy) and the American diplomat Allen Dulles (Vyacheslav Shalevich) taking place in Switzerland. He is ordered by Moscow to ascertain whether the Americans and the Germans have a secret channel of communication, and if so - to obstruct it.He recruits two aides - Professor Pleischner (Yevgeniy Yevstigneyev), a former member of the German Resistance, and Pastor Schlag, (Rostislav Plyatt) a clergyman who disapproves of the regime.Stirlitz succeeds in leaking the details of the negotiations both to Hitler and to Stalin (Andro Kobaladze). The Soviets, now possessing evidence, demand an end to those contacts and President Roosevelt obliges them. Himmler narrowly convinces Hitler it was all merely an attempt to sow distrust between the Allies.

Soviet films about WWII may be tedious, long or pathetic, but not this one, which is done by the great filmmaker Tatiana Lioznova and since she is a woman the movie has that deep, thoughtful, sweetly painful feeling of heroism, tragedy and bravery. Sure, some things are exaggerated and of course there could never be such an ideal spy as Stirlitz, played here by awesome Vyacheslav Tikhonov. What is very important here is to show what crafty and smart enemy as Nazi were we managed to win over at a cost of 30,000,000 lives. The film is about people who stay human in the fire of war, and about humans who become beasts and cruel monsters. This is the fine example of a great war movie without propaganda or sickly patriotism.

One of the little-recognized deficiencies of spy movies is that 'action'--chases, shootings, explosions, etc.--is dominant content. Of course, the trend caters to modern audiences that are addicted to sound and special effects. However, action-driven spy movies (e.g., James Bond) suffer from 3 major defects: 1)They are not believable 2)They contain little or no acting performances to speak of 3)As such, they are easily forgettable. This is not the case with "17 moments of spring" (hereafter SMOS)The 12 episodes of the series have been specifically shot in Black and White, in fairly simple studio sets, with no special visual effects. What makes SMOS the favorite of audiences, is a gamut of absolutely incredible acting. Each role, even a minor one, casts an "all-star" Soviet actor, and they deliver deep psychological performances. Tikhonov is an obvious star as Stierlitz, but consider Leonid Bronevoy as Mueller, the friendly, always suspicious and incredibly cruel inside Gestapo chief. Or Oleg Tabakov, as cheerful Schellenberg of the German intelligence. Or Plyatt as very vulnerable and very human Pastor Schlag who nevertheless embodies the power of the Church. So essentially SMOS is not a spy movie, but a tight psychological drama. But we must not forget the subject, and it is an important one, based on a major real life event: in early 1945, trying to finish off the Nazi Germany, the Russians found out that SS-gruppenfuehrer Karl Wolff (essentially a representative of the odious Himmler) attempted to negotiate a separate piece with the Americans in Italy. The talks were top-secret (OSS star Allen Dulles was the US negotiator) and essentially meant a betrayal of Russia by its anti-Nazi allies. SMOS is about how the Russians discovered the secret and forced the end to negotiations. In short, this is one of the greatest all-time spy thrillers. Just as "Rosemary's Baby" is arguably the best horror movie because of its acting and directing, so does SMOS shine through the mediocrity we are fed today. I wish it were shown to the wide Western audiences, so that they can see for themselves!