User Reviews

The other comment on this title disparages the film for pretending to be anti-militarist and not depicting war crimes in Russia. It's highly doubtful an average German artillery unit would have been witness to or taken part in any sort of war crimes in the winter of 1941-42. Furthermore, I have no problem with this film being militarist as it gives an accurate portrayal of German soldiers' attitudes at this early stage in the war. To portray anti-militarism during this time period would be inaccurate. As for special effects, it's very obvious at one point in the film that an anti tank gun is being fired with live ammunition. Never does it seem that explosives have been substituted with fire crackers. This series is by far one of the best portrayals of the Wehrmacht in WWII. I value it for the fact that it doesn't vilify or victimize the Germans as so many movies do today, but that it's presented honestly and unapologetically having been produced by the people who were actually there.

The title "08/15 - Zweiter Teil" already says that this is the second movie from the "08/15" trilogy and it was released a year after the first, namely in 1955, so this one is also already over 60 years old. The director is again Paul May and the film is based again on the work of writer Hans Hellmut Kirst. Several actors returned to reprise their characters, such as Blacky Fuchsberger and some new actors showed up to portray crucial characters for the story here. I myself was pretty unimpressed with the first film from these three and sadly I must say this second movie does not change my opinion. Yes it was important to come to terms what happened in Germany between 1933(/1939) and 1945, but it has to be done better and more interestingly than these films here. This movie came out 10 years after the end of World War II and it is just one of so so many films that dealt with Nazi Germany back then. So so many tried to make an impact, but so so many also stayed underwhelming and this one here is just another example of how it shouldn't be done. The title "08/15" is actually very fitting as, here in Germany, these numbers stand for and symbolize something that is really by the books, but also very forgettable or even worse and that disappears in the mass of mediocrity and this feels so so true for this film. Nothing stands out about the action, the plot and story or the acting, even if you can somehow not really blame the actors as they can only be as good as the script they are given, But the also do not elevate the material. This is a very bleak and sterile movie that does not offer half as much insight as it wants to into one of the most crucial times in German history. Before watching this film, i felt that the trilogy should have ended after the first film already. Now I feel my theory to be confirmed and I just cannot believe that there is even a third film out there.