Stalingrad - 1993
- Director Joseph Vilsmaier
- Product Code: NA-P2091-8039-GUE-LT
- Reward Points: 1
- Availability: In Stock
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Tags: Stalingrad, Stalingrad 1993, Stalingrad 1992, Joseph Vilsmaier, Dominique Horwitz, Thomas Kretschmann, Jochen Nickel, Sebastian Rudolph, Dana Vávrová, Martin Benrath, Sylvester Groth, Karel Heřmánek, Heinz Emigholz, Dieter Okras, Enjott Schneider, German cinema, European cinema, 1990s cinema, contemporary cinema, drama, war, war drama, historical drama, historical film, anti-war film, German anti-war cinema, Second World War, World War II, Battle of Stalingrad, Eastern Front, War in Eastern Europe 1939–1945, Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Wehrmacht, Red Army, German Sixth Army, German soldiers, invasion of the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa, military encirclement, urban warfare, house-to-house fighting, ruined factory, destroyed city, Russian winter, starvation, extreme cold, disease, war wounds, punishment battalion, desertion, survival, sacrifice, moral dilemmas, power relations, military brutality, authoritarianism, fascism, Nazism, political propaganda, military obedience, military collapse, German defeat, loss of humanity, war trauma, comradeship, despair, isolation, death, moral conscience, occupation, civilians in war, prisoners of war, wartime realism, historical realism, modern classic, cult film, disturbing film, dark film, melancholy film, intense film, violent film, emotionally heavy film, reflective cinema, difficult viewing, films that make you think, film collecting, classic war films, human condition, survival films, films about fascism, films about militarism, Russian history, Stalingrad in cinema, German war cinema, historically inspired cinema
In the summer of 1942, a group of German soldiers decorated after service in the North African campaign enjoy a brief period of leave in Italy. Among them are Fritz Reiser, Manfred “Rollo” Rohleder and other members of a unit placed under the command of the young Lieutenant Hans von Witzland. Their temporary calm ends when they are transported to the Soviet Union and drawn into the German offensive against Stalingrad. A journey initially shaped by confidence in victory and by the territorial promises of Nazi propaganda carries the men towards a devastated industrial city, where ruined buildings, factories, tunnels and sewers have become an immense battlefield.
Under Captain Musk, the platoon is thrown into brutal house-to-house fighting and suffers devastating losses. Military discipline begins to collapse beneath exhaustion, fear and the realisation that the men have been committed to an operation from which there may be no return. Encounters with Soviet soldiers and civilians disturb the abstract division between enemy and ally, while the cruelty of German officers exposes a command structure that continues to demand obedience after meaningful victory has become impossible. Having resisted morally indefensible orders, members of the unit are demoted, transferred to a punishment company and forced into conditions even more degrading than those at the front.
As the Soviet encirclement closes, the narrative abandons any remaining suggestion of military adventure. Hunger, disease, wounds, failed supplies and the Russian winter transform the battle into a prolonged process of physical and psychological annihilation. Joseph Vilsmaier observes the German defeat through the experience of a small group without turning the invaders into heroes or reducing warfare to spectacle. Stalingrad is an anti-war drama about soldiers participating in a war of occupation who, as the army and the ideology that brought them to the Volga disintegrate around them, struggle to preserve the last remnants of solidarity, conscience and humanity.
| Work Record | |
| Original Title | Stalingrad |
| Title | Stalingrad |
| Year | 1993 |
| Direction | Joseph Vilsmaier |
| Countries of origin | Germany |
| Gender | Drama, War |
| Colors | Color |
| Cast | Dominique Horwitz, Thomas Kretschmann, Jochen Nickel, Sebastian Rudolph, Dana Vávrová, Martin Benrath, Sylvester Groth, Karel Heřmánek, Heinz Emigholz, Ferdinand Schuster, Oliver Broumis, Dieter Okras, Zdeněk Vencl, Mark Kuhn, Thorsten Bolloff, Alexander Wachholz, J. Alfred Mehnert, Ulrike Arnold, Christian Knoepfle, Flip Cap, Jaroslav Tomsa, Pavel Mang, Oto Ševčík, Jophi Ries, Svatopluk Říčánek, Otmar Dvorak, Karel Hábl, Thomas Lange, Karel Hlušička, Alexander Koller, Petr Skarke, Hynek Čermák, Čestmír Řanda, Jan Přeučil, Bohumil Švarc, Pirjo Leppänen, Aale Mantila, Theresa Vilsmaier, Janina Vilsmaier, Oliver Steindler, Jana Matulová-Steindlerová, Karel Heřmánek Jr., Pavel Zelízko |
| Producer | Hanno Huth, Günter Rohrbach, Bob Arnold, Mark Damon, Michael Krohne, Joseph Vilsmaier, Rainer Grupe |
| Duration | 134 Min. |
| Original Language | German |
| Languages Present | German, Russian |
| Color Format | Eastmancolor |
| Composer | Enjott Schneider |
| Cinematography | Joseph Vilsmaier, Rolf Greim, Klaus Moderegger, Peter von Haller |
| Editing | Hannes Nikel |
| Tagline | Bis zum letzten Mann... |
| Screenplay | Jürgen Büscher, Johannes Heide, Joseph Vilsmaier, Christoph Fromm |
| Edition Record | |
| Subtitle | Brazilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Danish, Dutch, English, European Portuguese, Finnish, Hebrew, Korean, Norwegian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovenian, Spanish |
| Editing Note | This edition preserves German as the predominant original language, reflecting the narrative perspective of a group of Wehrmacht soldiers and the exchanges among enlisted men, officers, medical personnel and members of the German command. Russian is used more sparingly, yet it performs a clear dramatic function whenever the characters encounter Soviet soldiers, prisoners or civilians. It can be heard during the journey into occupied Soviet territory, when the men practise expressions such as «Давай» — “Davai”, meaning “come on” or “faster”, and «Руки вверх» — “Ruki vverkh”, meaning “hands up”; during the fighting inside and around the factory; in the temporary truce arranged to recover the wounded; in the brief exchanges with the young soldier Kolja; during Hans von Witzland’s encounter with Irina in the underground passages; and in scenes involving captured or injured Soviet characters. In several of these sequences, Russian, limited German and gestures are combined, emphasising the unstable and difficult communication between the opposing sides. The most accurate catalogue entry is therefore German, Russian, with German identified as the overwhelmingly dominant language of the film. IMDb and international listings identify both languages, while the available dialogue transcript confirms the Russian expressions used within the narrative. |