User Reviews

This movie really surprised me. I discovered I was unfair when I underestimated the creative capacity of the soviet cinematographic industry -very well represented here by Sergei Bondarchuk. "A soviet movie released 30 years after WW2? Total bias and cheap nationalism", I thought when I crossed this piece. What I watched, on the other side, is a verisimilar and vanguardist view of the Eastern Front; a work more tied to denounce than to exaltation.

The resistance of a maimed and disoriented small unit is the perfect background for Sergei; it's a soft earth garden ready to receive the seeds of war. This is the first time I see such good exploration of soldiers' emotions. The scenes reveal the human inside the uniform, the virtues and vices. The one who fears, hesitates and finds refuge in laugh is the protagonist of "They fought for their motherland". Vasiliy Shukshin (the soldier "Lopakhin") doesn't give life to its character; he borrows the life of real people, of thousands of displaced russians who fought under severe conditions and created a whole new living style in the front. The other actors were also convincing. The siberian soldier misses his wife, Lopakhin's partner sees death in everything, Nikolay can't be distracted from his pessimistic convictions, Lopakhin himself feels extremely bad before the death of a youngster... All those marginalized emotions are well illustrated through a touching realism.

Furthermore, Sergei manages to create meaningful symbolisms. The running engine of the upside down tank predicts the empty fate of Wehrmacht, whose ruthless advance isn't translated into a real move, i.e. goes nowhere. The insistence of the young nurse is the best expression of the faith deposited in each soldier. The hard words of the old woman aren't supposed to rise the "mother-loses-sons" cliché, but to reinforce the necessity of fighting the enemy at all costs, of shedding blood. The blood that flows from Nikolay's ear in the last scene marks the legacy of the war, the experiences and sorrows that won't be forgotten. The soviet flag is not unfurled until the final, which could mean the glory of the motherland isn't complete until every single soldier bow down to duty.

I could pass the whole day talking about this movie, but I fear I don't have much space here. This way, I'll be quickly with the other details: the scenery is very immersive; the music is somewhat exaggerated sometimes, though correctly placed; and panzers' strength isn't well described, since a single AT rifle shot (15mm, maybe?) would not destroy a tank. Actually, this two last points are my only criticism and will not influence significantly my final rate. Summarizing, Bondarchuk used all his geniality and resources to create this masterpiece of war cine. All the adversities the conventional heroes would not face are presented to the spectator. The excellence of war and all honour issues are undone; I could be one of those guys and you also. War realism at its best. I would be unfair again if I gave this less than 9.

There are no words. Eternal memory to the heroes! Low bow for the fact that we live. And a bow to the Actors and the Director.

What kind of speech, what thoughts are expressed by the actors, EVERYTHING is wonderful in this film.

I remember watching this movie as a child and always laughing at the phrase "I forgot how my wife smells like armpits ...", but now I cry every time I watch this movie!

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.

It's clearly a Soviet era film but the gritty perspectives of common soldiers tell a much more complex story of everyday life in war in an era long before computer generated effects could do the story telling. While some movies produced in Soviet times tend to over simplify in the name of patriotism Soviet style- this film utilizes the unambiguous "defense of country" theme not to glorify the fight but to ennoble the common soldiers fighting the every day fight on a small scale while struggling as well just to survive. The camaraderie of these guys carries the fairly long run time of the film and makes it worth the watching in the end.

"The time is fast approaching when to call a man a patriot will be the deepest insult you can offer him. Patriotism now means advocating plunder in the interest of the privileged classes of the particular State system into which we have happened to be born." - Leo Tolstoy

"Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them!" - Albert Einstein

"Patriotism is a pernicious, psychopathic form of idiocy." - George Bernard Shaw

The legendary Sergei Bondarchuk directs "They Fought For the Motherland", a war film set in Russia during the second half of 1942. The film opens with a magnificent shot, a prowling camera gliding through swaying fields of wheat before finding the exhausted Soviet army trudging through a canyon far below. They're in full retreat, having been recently crushed by the invading might of a German Panzer division.

We then spend some time with the men, watching as they rest and recuperate. They chat and trade stories, before their commander selects a few for a special mission. Turns out our heroes have been ordered to hold a ridge, their small infantry regiment tasked with holding back the German forces so that their exhausted comrades may withdraw back to Stalingrad, where the Russians are preparing to make an epic final stand.

Sam Fuller did this sort of "rag-tag rear guard group of soldiers vs an approaching enemy horde" thing better and with more nuance and complexity, but Bondarchuk is the better visualist. His camera conveys the sheer boredom and exhaustion of these men, and his battle scenes are at times impressive, the expansiveness of the Russian countryside lending his battles a scale which most British and American war productions lack.

The film eventually settles down into a predictable rhythm, alternating between giant battles and intimate moments of downtime, Bondarcuk allowing his cast's sentiments, fears and attitudes to gently unfold whenever the bullets aren't flying.

The film reduces war to the usual traits - everyman soldiers, fatigue, fear, fun, friendship, boredom, heroism, horror, death, homesickness, cowardice, orders etc – and like most of these films, its attempts at portraying war with "balance" and "truth" can't mask how myopic it ultimately all is. A more poetic version of "Saving Private Ryan", the film was financed by the state and the Russian ministry of defence and serves only to glorify war, heroism, compliance, servitude, and act as a low-key form of propaganda.

Like "Saving Private Ryan", the film also ends with sad shots of the Russian flag, close ups of the battered faces of warriors, old men dropping to their knees, utilises various subtle tactics toward propagandistic ends and sports a narrative in which we're manipulated into morning the loss of our everyman heroes, who bravely stood up against foes superior in number. By the time the film ends, a throwaway line urging us to hate our enemies, akin to "Ryan's" nationalistic/militaristic "earn this", goes by almost unnoticed.

7/10 – Worth one viewing.