Indeed. It is a little mistake in my view to consider the Eastern Front to be under-represented, movie-wise - it's first and foremost Soviet filmmaking about the topic which is grossly underrated, or sometimes completely ignored. The theater didn't need a thousand hollow movies, just a dozen great Soviet movies which catch the whole feeling so much better than any average western movie about the thing - movies from the western allies tend to be about soldiers more than about war, and that's understandable considering our own experience. "Come and See" is a masterpiece on this aspect. Some others, like "The dawns are quite here" (
link to imdb) focus on other topics brilliantly, ans grasp your breath and your heart like no other. Often, these movies are from books masterly written in a way only a Russian soul may convey, however red it may be. Make no mistake, it's not because it was made in a certain era that it is deprived of all the sensitiveness, all the emotion, all the melancholy and fatality you may expect from a Russian heart and its work of art.
And, to come to the defense of the above-mentioned Stalingrad, what the movie lacks in rhythm, it is certainly not lacking in authenticity. I know some may say that the last dozens minutes are boring, but seriously, the only objective reason why you'd be incline to praise a boring patrol moment of Das Boot more than an escape from the Kessel is Klaus Doldinger's music. No offense intended, I like them both, and they are great allegories of that big mess of a waste. You'll feel the cries, the agony, the revolt in every soviet movie about the war. Now feel what the German side felt when the snow slowly eats down what remains of the last soldier of the movie, just like Russia and the steppes chewed down the Wehrmacht to its last bits. Das Boot and Stalingrad are about how war wastes lives of good men in a crazy gamble against all odds, and I do find them equally admirable in their own way. But at the same time, don't forget to have a look at what the Russians have to say about their own rape - watch three or four movies, you'll see how the Eastern Front, when it comes to movies, is already quite well served with talent. [&o]
