Movies

[Darkdeacon]

I was wondering what the opinions were on the movie "Stalingrad" as to the authenticity of the depiction of events at that time? The uniforms seemed authentic at least.

Are there any other German war movies that are somewhat accurate as well?

I enjoy watching and learning, especially from the German point of view.

[Darkdeacon]

I guess I should add that I am interested in the human aspect of it, not necessarily about the tactics or the campaigns, but how the members felt. I guess the dirty aspect of it all.

[Richard Hargreaves]

I find Stalingrad (a) disjointed movie making (b) not a very accurate depiction of the battle.

There are some very good set piece scenes in the film (the factory, the tanks attacking in the snow), yet a lot of the rhetoric, a lot of the actions of the actors are based on 1980s/1990s thinking/attitudes rather than 1942...

That said, it craps all over Enemy at the Gates (great book, shite film).

Untergang is by far the best depiction I've seen of the mentality of the era.
If you can find it, the Soviet-produced Die Befreiung is interesting (but skewed by Soviet propaganda).

[Darkdeacon]

Now the film "Untergang" is that the same as "der Untergang" about the last days of Hitler? If it is not do you have more details on it? ISBN number or something that I could find it? Thanks a lot.

[Richard Hargreaves]

The very same. Available on DVD as Downfall outside Germany.

Plenty of threads on here about it and over at IMDB...

[Howard]

Hi Darkdeacon,

if you can find them (and understand German) these two films give a reasonable portrait of things from the German point of view:

Hunde wollt ihr ewig leben?[/i] is a film about Stalingrad, pre-dating Stalingrad by about 30 years. Perhaps a little dated and seemingly cliched after all that we have seen nowadays, it's nonetheless an early attempt by the Germans to portray this disasterous battle. Some good battle scenes when the Russians overrun the Romanian lines, reminiscent of the Panzerschlacht scene in Stalingrad.

Abenteur des Werner Holt is another excellent film treating the collapse of the Eastern front in early 1945. A small unit is detailed to defend a village and the fanatical NCO arranges the defence and rounds up defeatists at the same time. Werner has problems with the NCO's behaviour, made worse by the fact they are childhood friends who joined up together. In flashback we see them at school, then training and finally at the front facing the Russians. The brutality of the front is well portrayed (in one scene an SS guard casually dispatches a prisoner who has collapsed without so much as batting an eyelid) and the action sequences look pretty realistic. I strongly recommend this film which was in turn recommended by Michael, a former member of this site.

The versions I have are only in German and I am not sure if they were ever released in a dubbed or sub-titled version. If you can find them, get them. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

[Richard Hargreaves]

Also try International Historic Films http://www.ihffilm.com/

They do a lot of propaganda films and also post-war movies which are very hard to get hold of elsewhere, including Hunde wollt ihr ewig leben with English subtitles.

[Darkdeacon]

The reason I am so interested is because everyone has this idea that Germans were evil, I'll admit from all the accounts, it does seem that way. I think I have always disassociated my grandfather from this, even though he fought for Germany.

So I am interested in seeing how the general person in the military felt. Seeing Stalingrad was interesting because it was the first movie not to portray all Germans as cold arian killers.

Being in the military myself, I have been on some trips where you just ask yourself "Why in hell are we here?". So it is kind of comforting to see that you can identify with them, even if it is only fiction.

Wow, I think that was my therapy session for the week, lol. That link will be great and thanks for the ideas as well. I'll get some more ideas from that site as well, I imagine.

[Darkdeacon]

Actually hat website is laid out very nicely. Perfect for what I was looking for. Thanks again.

Only problem is; what the hell is VHS? lol!

[Reb]

Deacon

"Being in the military myself, I have been on some trips where you just ask yourself "Why in hell are we here?".

The answer is simple: For the honour of the Regiment! Sometimes there are other reasons such as protecting one's country but at the sharp end its best to keep focused on reason #1. The historians will determine the right or wrong of it.

cheers
Reb

[Darkdeacon]

Yeah, but when your in it, you don't see the world or historical view, you see your closed in tunneled view.

Looking on it now, I see it from a different perspective. I still wonder if we did any good and as far as the Canadian Forces goes, a whole regiment was disbanded because of their actions. But that is neither here nor there.

Don't get me wrong, I just like seeing a film where it shows how the Germans felt or acted. I just don't like this generalized version of the evil killing German's, and I am not saying I believe that they were all nice either but.....

Do I make sense?

[Reb]

Sounds like the rest of us. One can not understand an event like WW2 without understanding the soldiers of whom Germany contributed over 10 million.

For most of my life all those soldiers have been portrayed as simple villains and nothing is simple where human beings are concerned.

cheers
Reb

[bf109 emil]

the Finnish made movie Ambush, does anyone know if it comes with english subtitles?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzW8hEmcrgY

[Fahrdienstleiter]

Why don't you just try Amazon?

http://www.amazon.ca/Ambush-Widescreen- ... 655&sr=8-1

[bf109 emil]

i found this 54 second clip on you tube, titled American vs Germans...does anyone know from what Movie, show or theatrical movie this clip originated fromhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wABZ9cXA ... re=related

also does anyone recommend the movie, when trumpet fade (1988)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRGNX8S5 ... re=related