Stalingrad
Short description
Stalingrad follows a German platoon during the Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942, as the Sixth Army advances deep into Soviet territory and becomes encircled by the Red Army. After losing more than half its men in the fighting, the unit falls under a sadistic captain, prompting Lieutenant Hans von Witzland to lead his soldiers away from the front and into the frozen steppe. The soldiers, among them Corporal Fritz Reiser, Sergeant Manfred Rohleder and GeGe Müller, try to survive on the thin line between desertion and the order to hold out to the end.
Joseph Vilsmaier directed and co-wrote the film, his first in the chronological list of his features given here, ahead of Brother of Sleep, Marlene and Nanga Pamir. The large credited cast and crew reflect a production budgeted at roughly 20 million dollars, one of the more expensive German films of its period. Thomas Kretschmann plays von Witzland and Dominique Horwitz plays Reiser, with Jochen Nickel, Sebastian Rudolph, Dana Vávrová and Martin Benrath in supporting roles; the screenplay is by Vilsmaier, Jürgen Büscher and Johannes Heide.
On IMDb the film holds a rating of 7.5 from about 40,000 votes, while on TMDB it has a rating of 7.3 from 655 votes. Both audiences score it in similar, favourable territory, and the vote counts indicate a much larger viewership on IMDb.
What's left behind the scenes
- Some of the Soviet tanks whose attack is repelled by the Germans approximately in the middle of the film are T-34-85s, which were not present near Stalingrad (this modification of the T-34 was adopted by the Red Army by Decree of the State Defense Committee No. 5020 ss, of January 23, 1944), i.e. almost a year after the end of the Battle of Stalingrad. Distinctive features are a larger turret and an 85-mm long-barreled gun. The long barrels are clearly visible in the profiles of the tanks (75th minute of the film). In addition, the tanks are attacking without jettisoning the external additional fuel tanks, which is also an error.
- Some of the Soviet tanks whose attack is repelled by the Germans approximately in the middle of the film are T-34-85s, which were not present near Stalingrad (this modification was adopted after January 1944), i.e., almost a year after the end of the Battle of Stalingrad. The characteristic differences are a larger turret and an 85mm long-barreled gun. The long barrels are clearly visible in the tank profiles (75th minute of the film). Furthermore, the tanks are attacking without dropping their external additional fuel tanks, which is also an error.
- Thomas Kretschmann later starred in the identically titled film by Fyodor Bondarchuk, released in 2013.
- At the 47th minute of the film, the Germans are listening to Russian soldiers humming the song "Dark Night." "Dark Night" first appeared in the film "Two Soldiers," which was released after the Battle of Stalingrad.
- The town of Porto-Cervo, mentioned at the beginning of the film, was built only in the 1960s.
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