While you probably wouldn't suspect it today, during WWII some of the bravest airmen and women flew planes which were seemingly completely obsolete. Russian women pilots flew old biplanes--effectively attacking German troops during night raids. And, in occupied Yugoslavia, partisans flew whatever they could find and were also successful...provided they weren't crazy enough to engage with German planes. Like the Soviets, they were most effective attacking ground troops...and "Partizanska Eskadrila" ("Battle of the Eagles") is about this fledgling group of desperate pilots.
When you watch this film, you need to remember that it isn't the best history lesson. The Yugoslavian film industry was tiny and poor....and the planes used by both sides during the movie were completely wrong. I didn't notice ANY real German planes and the Yugoslavian ones were not the correct types either. Also, oddly, the cheap DVD I found was MOSTLY dubbed into English. All the scenes with Germans were done in German and were not translated in any way--which was frustrating as my German is only poor to fair. And, speaking of cheap...the print is faded and has no subtitles of any type. It also was heavily edited...missing about 30 minutes from the original film.
So is it worth seeing? Perhaps. But don't expect good aerial footage and the whole thing just has a very cheap look about it. "The Blue Max" or "Battle of Britain" it is not!! Plus, seeing a cheap old biplane shooting down a German plane (actually a plane that looked about as German as a taco!) was pretty funny. Overall, a rather poor film about a subject that actually could use a good movie with decent and historically accurate planes. Not terrible...but also not good.
