A trailer for the upcoming big-budget Stalingrad movie has been released. The film was directed by Fedor Bondarchuk, who received widespread acclaim for The 9th Company, his 2005 film about the Soviet-Afghan War. Stalingrad is the first Russian film to be shot in 3-D and IMAX formats, and was mostly shot on a set that was built near St. Petersburg at a cost of around $30 million. A series of photos of the set can be viewed here.
The film stars Petr Fedorov, Dmitriy Lysenkov and Thomas Kretschmann, who also featured in the German-made 1993 film Stalingrad and Downfall. The dialogue will be in Russian and German, with subtitles rather than dubbing. The premiere is planned for Volgograd in October.
Judging from the trailer and everything I’ve read about the film, the plot appears to be based on Pavlov’s House, with a dash of Enemy at the Gates (the love story) and a sprinkling of Saving Private Ryan (the brothers). I tend to approach war films with a healthy dose of scepticism, because, let’s be honest, most of them aren’t much good. I suspect that I’ll see Stalingrad thinking “At least it can’t be as bad as Enemy at the Gates, can it?” I hope I’m not wrong.
Here’s another trailer (added October 10):
Mamayev Kurgan 