Stalingrad

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Dominique Horwitz and Thomas Kretschmann in Stalingrad (1993)

The story follows a group of German soldiers, from their Italian R&R in the summer of 1942 to the frozen steppes of Soviet Russia and ending with the battle for Stalingrad.The story follows a group of German soldiers, from their Italian R&R in the summer of 1942 to the frozen steppes of Soviet Russia and ending with the battle for Stalingrad.The story follows a group of German soldiers, from their Italian R&R in the summer of 1942 to the frozen steppes of Soviet Russia and ending with the battle for Stalingrad.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.5/10

38K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 3 wins & 1 nomination

Trivia
The original screenplay was written by Christoph Fromm but the producers disagreed with his more realistic direction and had it rewritten. Consequently, Fromm took his name off the film.

Goofs
Towards the end of film a Ju52 drops a single supply parachute. When dropped out of the plane and falling towards ground, it is green, when they recover it on the ground it is white. (In reality the Luftwaffe was first using white parachutes until they realized it is too difficult to spot white parachutes on the snowy ground.)

Quotes
Lt. Hans von Witzland: The best thing about the cold is...
[Witzland dies]
Fritz Reiser: [holding the body, he laughs] You don't have to worry about sunburn. Ever been to the desert? You'd hate it. It's so hot, you're always sweating. You think you're melting, like butter. The desert is shit. Except for the stars. They're so close, you know?
[dies]

Connections
Featured in The 100 Greatest War Films (2005)

Soundtracks
Heimat, Deine Sterne
Lyrics by Erich Knauf and music by Werner Bochmann
Performed by Wilhelm Strienz

User reviews183

Review

Featured review

8/10

The filmmakers of "Enemy at the Gates" should have seen this.

The film is about the battle of Stalingrad. For those of you who don't know anything about it, it was the worst battle in the Second World War. Over 1 million people died in the course of the battle. This is the only film that I've seen that seems to have actually captured how bad things were in the war between Russia and Germany. What I really liked about it is that the two ideologies (Nazism and Communism) were nowhere in the film. Unlike most American films, the Germans are not seen as blood thirsty murderers, but what the average German foot soldier was, a person.

The film revolves around four soldiers fighting in Stalingrad. They were transferred there to try and take the city. The film follows these men from August of 1942 to early 1943. During this time, they learn about the horrors of war and try to find a way out of the battle.

Through the entire film, one feels the desperation of the entire battle. Unlike "Enemy at the Gates" the film makers didn't try to put some sappy love story or dress up factual occurrences of the battle. This film may be fiction, but it conveys what happened in the bloodiest battle in World War II.