First off, this was a great film in the genre of war. The battle, fighting and conflict were both realistic and brutal. It was produced and directed well and the story-line was controversial, yet ran effortlessly through the film. The only criticism (and this is from a westernocentric view)I can make is that the Estonians that were forced to fight for the Nazis, certainly made criticisms of Hitler as individuals but the crimes of the Germans in Russia from 1941 were not at all referred to or personified by any character in the SS Estonian Volunteer Division. I understand that Estonians and probably Lithuanians and Latvians experienced the same moral conummdrum, as two opposing forces with radically different ideologies opposed one another. Innocence were caught in the clash. Making their choices as best fits any human beings will to survive. Unfortunately, as a failing of myself, but I cheered when the Estonian Nazis got killed in the battle. Maybe it is because I have been brought up on a diet of war films in which Germans in 1939-45 were always portrayed as 'the bad guys'. However, these Etonians had the SS insignia and with that association any sympathy would be in short supply. The SS committed unforgivable atrocities across Russia in 1941 to 44 and the film failed to acknowledge or address that issue. Instead it portrayed as well as it could, the SS soldiers as run of the mill lads, caught up in a war, not of their making. There were no sinister characters amongst them, no fascist enthusiasts or criminals.
The Estonians in the Red Army were portrayed in the same even handed manner except for the 'Stalinist' Captain, who was portrayed as a brute, heartless and ruthless. A sinister person who tried to coerce soldiers in his command, especially with the blunt tool of fear.
The film although great in terms of plot, style and genre. The makers lacked the even handedness of the subject. OK, I accept that the heroic Red Army was let down by the obvious monsters within it and were commanded by 'Stalinists' and unreconstructed communists. Yet the SS were just as bad, if not worse. In essence, the director and producer should've reached out for....balance.
The Estonians in the Red Army were portrayed in the same even handed manner except for the 'Stalinist' Captain, who was portrayed as a brute, heartless and ruthless. A sinister person who tried to coerce soldiers in his command, especially with the blunt tool of fear.
The film although great in terms of plot, style and genre. The makers lacked the even handedness of the subject. OK, I accept that the heroic Red Army was let down by the obvious monsters within it and were commanded by 'Stalinists' and unreconstructed communists. Yet the SS were just as bad, if not worse. In essence, the director and producer should've reached out for....balance.