To write a simple review seems to be an easy task. Let's complicate the matters a bit. If You have time and inclination, perceive my point and method of commenting this particular movie. All right, here we go. What do we have on the negative side? The following lines are taken out from the IMDb reviews.
1 "The soundtrack is boring, without any decent music at all... Indeed, this is not a realistic film in any way, shape or form... Its propaganda, devoid of any artistic merit. I give it the minimum score because of its extreme pro-Soviet bias, which makes the film offensive and indeed Soviet propaganda". (by Jose Cruz)
2 "And I love films, but really films are supposed to be entertaining. Or shocking. Or thought provoking. This is so tedious it feels like the director is calling the viewers bluff". (by robc-26 from United Kingdom)
3 "A war movie should educate the viewer in any of a number of ways. We should appreciate courage and sacrifice, we should empathise with the cold, hungry and terrified. We should be told about historical events and their impact on the final outcome". (by Reebox from United Kingdom)
4 "Lack of dialogue and explanation means that much of the time you don't know who people are or where they're going or what they hope to accomplish when they get there". (by hanfuzzy from Barrie, Ontario, Canada)
5 "The character of the boy doesn't seem developed enough and the imagery presented in some so-called "intense" scenes did not truly attract my attention nor made me empathize with the character". (by dubbs37 from United States)
6 "Bad lead character development". (by entej from Russian Federation)
7 "The film is very slow and at many times throughout, nothing much is happening... The long, ringing in your ears, muted sound is off putting and not effective". (by richard6 from United Kingdom)
8 "I wanted to see more actual fighting, and how the war was perceived by soldiers not a 12 year old boy..." (by Steve Johnson (twiglet-1))
9 "The Nazis was professional killers, OK, but they were yet civilized (if I could say so) beside of a savage hypocrite murders called russians with their red army!.. Nazis were stupid kids beside Red Holocaust and Stalin. Be serious!!!!!" (by nazratst from Romania)
10 "The infamous village massacre happens in the last fifteen to twenty minutes of the film, and the German soldiers look so ridiculously evil and cartoon-like that it's very hard for this scene to have any particular interest or emotion. To be honest, I was so bored up to this point that the barbaric events unfolding on screen before me were almost welcoming as at least something was finally happening". (by JSwallowX1 from Ireland)
So, we can sum it all up in the lines below (adding some groovy spice will also help).
Being a piece of blunt Soviet propaganda, the film is devoid of any historical accuracy and artistic merit. It's dull and tedious with an uninteresting main character (who has absolutely no background and is free from any development – either physical or mental). Who cares about some kid during the war times? Give us a HERO, not a whimpering child! This "war" flick is neither entertaining nor serious. Its fictional happenings (women and children burnt in the barns by the Nazis? come on, in reality it was vice versa! read the historical documents!) pump up to the levels of "Star Wars" with one serious difference: "Star Wars" was at least thought-provoking and shocking. There is no decent music in the movie at all and the whole soundtrack cries out to get turned off. The last straw that could break any camel's back (i.e. insult any viewer's ears) was some cheap melody at the end of the flick. The whole movie is boring to such degree that any normal human being will yawn and fall asleep during the initial 10 minutes. If you want to see a real feat for the eyes and ears, watch the documentary "Der Ewige Jude", which IS a masterpiece at all levels and on top of everything has realistic cow scenes (unlike this one). Watch any USA picture with the WWII topic – they are not many, but at least they represent the historical facts and show us WHO won the World War II and at WHAT unspeakable price... The Russians exaggerate things immensely, making the events going on on their territory look like some kind of annihilation. Nonsense. The Germans were never cruel during the WWII on the USSR territory and they always behaved in a most decent manner. It was Russian troops who were deranged killers (there is even a historically accurate photo of a Russian soldier bullying a poor German woman and robbing her of her bicycle! and it happened in the streets of Berlin when the war was over! Check out the I-net archive footage if you don't believe! just imagine WHAT was happening during the war days!). The verdict: if you are a sane civilized and thinking European, stay far away from this schmoopy fantasy.
Do You agree? What do You know about the WWII? How empty is Your vision? To which extent are Your brains brainwashed and "freed"?
Any further comment is superfluous. Actually, this movie does not need any review or comment. But our today's way of life needs it badly. And today's cinema.
Thank you for attention.
1 "The soundtrack is boring, without any decent music at all... Indeed, this is not a realistic film in any way, shape or form... Its propaganda, devoid of any artistic merit. I give it the minimum score because of its extreme pro-Soviet bias, which makes the film offensive and indeed Soviet propaganda". (by Jose Cruz)
2 "And I love films, but really films are supposed to be entertaining. Or shocking. Or thought provoking. This is so tedious it feels like the director is calling the viewers bluff". (by robc-26 from United Kingdom)
3 "A war movie should educate the viewer in any of a number of ways. We should appreciate courage and sacrifice, we should empathise with the cold, hungry and terrified. We should be told about historical events and their impact on the final outcome". (by Reebox from United Kingdom)
4 "Lack of dialogue and explanation means that much of the time you don't know who people are or where they're going or what they hope to accomplish when they get there". (by hanfuzzy from Barrie, Ontario, Canada)
5 "The character of the boy doesn't seem developed enough and the imagery presented in some so-called "intense" scenes did not truly attract my attention nor made me empathize with the character". (by dubbs37 from United States)
6 "Bad lead character development". (by entej from Russian Federation)
7 "The film is very slow and at many times throughout, nothing much is happening... The long, ringing in your ears, muted sound is off putting and not effective". (by richard6 from United Kingdom)
8 "I wanted to see more actual fighting, and how the war was perceived by soldiers not a 12 year old boy..." (by Steve Johnson (twiglet-1))
9 "The Nazis was professional killers, OK, but they were yet civilized (if I could say so) beside of a savage hypocrite murders called russians with their red army!.. Nazis were stupid kids beside Red Holocaust and Stalin. Be serious!!!!!" (by nazratst from Romania)
10 "The infamous village massacre happens in the last fifteen to twenty minutes of the film, and the German soldiers look so ridiculously evil and cartoon-like that it's very hard for this scene to have any particular interest or emotion. To be honest, I was so bored up to this point that the barbaric events unfolding on screen before me were almost welcoming as at least something was finally happening". (by JSwallowX1 from Ireland)
So, we can sum it all up in the lines below (adding some groovy spice will also help).
Being a piece of blunt Soviet propaganda, the film is devoid of any historical accuracy and artistic merit. It's dull and tedious with an uninteresting main character (who has absolutely no background and is free from any development – either physical or mental). Who cares about some kid during the war times? Give us a HERO, not a whimpering child! This "war" flick is neither entertaining nor serious. Its fictional happenings (women and children burnt in the barns by the Nazis? come on, in reality it was vice versa! read the historical documents!) pump up to the levels of "Star Wars" with one serious difference: "Star Wars" was at least thought-provoking and shocking. There is no decent music in the movie at all and the whole soundtrack cries out to get turned off. The last straw that could break any camel's back (i.e. insult any viewer's ears) was some cheap melody at the end of the flick. The whole movie is boring to such degree that any normal human being will yawn and fall asleep during the initial 10 minutes. If you want to see a real feat for the eyes and ears, watch the documentary "Der Ewige Jude", which IS a masterpiece at all levels and on top of everything has realistic cow scenes (unlike this one). Watch any USA picture with the WWII topic – they are not many, but at least they represent the historical facts and show us WHO won the World War II and at WHAT unspeakable price... The Russians exaggerate things immensely, making the events going on on their territory look like some kind of annihilation. Nonsense. The Germans were never cruel during the WWII on the USSR territory and they always behaved in a most decent manner. It was Russian troops who were deranged killers (there is even a historically accurate photo of a Russian soldier bullying a poor German woman and robbing her of her bicycle! and it happened in the streets of Berlin when the war was over! Check out the I-net archive footage if you don't believe! just imagine WHAT was happening during the war days!). The verdict: if you are a sane civilized and thinking European, stay far away from this schmoopy fantasy.
Do You agree? What do You know about the WWII? How empty is Your vision? To which extent are Your brains brainwashed and "freed"?
Any further comment is superfluous. Actually, this movie does not need any review or comment. But our today's way of life needs it badly. And today's cinema.
Thank you for attention.