It’s mentioned in the intro. The list purposely leaves out Hollywood movies, focusing only on movies made in Germany or Russia.
Strongly recommend the Hardcore History podcast series on the Eastern Fromt (called Ghosts of the Ostfront I think?) - I think it’s the best one he’s done.
Come and See has one of the most disturbing scenes I've seen, but one of the most realistic, the "ethnic cleansing" of a Belarussian village by what must be Oskar Dirlewanger's notorious unit.
I've never really seen a good film about the Eastern Front. The ones out there are all a bit weird and formulaic, and none capture the scope.
There are movies with some good scenes like the Volga river crossing in Enemy at the Gates or the battle scenes in Cross of Iron. The best movie on the list by far is Downfall but I don't really consider that an Eastern Front movie.
A little known three-part German mini-series "Generation War" (or Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter) has some good scenes as well but again, very minor in scope.
Too Hollywoody.. Stalingrad was a battle where Germans and Russians would slaughter each other for days fighting over different floors in a single building.
Come and See has one of the most disturbing scenes I've seen, but one of the most realistic, the "ethnic cleansing" of a Belarussian village by what must be Oskar Dirlewanger's notorious unit.
That scene is so accurate it’s used in museums. I just read that in the wiki link posted earlier in this thread.
It does veer a bit close to German apologetics, but it was well made.
I have seen and liked [i]Stalingrad[/] a lot.
I didn't think so.
The apologists tend to argue that the German army was not involved and had no knowledge of the extermination of Jews and Slavs. Anyone who has studied the war in the East knows the army not only knew of both, but were intimately involved. Generation War exposes that myth to Germans (it's a German production).
In fact, I would argue the best and deepest character of the five is not the older brother, but the younger one who transforms from sensitive, anti-war, cowardly loner to the archetype German soldier who doesn't question orders and accepts his fate, culminating in the firing squad scene, and later with the shouting match with his brother (their roles had actually reversed at that point).
It also realistic portrays the SD's role in atrocities, down to the point of using Ukrainian militia.
I believe the most criticism the series received was its anti-Semitic portrayal of the Polish resistance. But in my readings of the subject matter, that was actually quite accurate.
The Winter War - extended cut (1989) did I just see a BA3/6?
Dneproviskiy Rubezh (2009) "Dnieper Border"
Paniflov's 28 (Paniflov's 28 Men aka The Battle for Moscow) 2016 Mark III's beware
Stalingrad (1993)
Liberation (1970) [film series: Fire Bulge, Breakthrough, Direction of the Main Blow, The Battle of Berlin, The Last Assault]
Come and See
Downfall
Schindler's List
Honorable Mention:
Tankers! (2018) A KV-1, nice...
Loyalty was my honor (2016)
Defiance (2008)
The Pianist (2002)
Terrible:
Leningrad (Aka Attack on Leningrad) 2009
White Tiger 2012 -- what the?
Enemy At the Gates (Great book, terrible non-adaption)
Fortress of War (2010) This is the battle for Brest-Litovsk citadel -- great subject, terrible movie...
Stalingrad 2014
Interested in seeing, but haven't yet:
The Unknown Soldier (Tuntematon Sotilas) 2017
T-34 aka Iron Fury 2019 (I'm dubious about this one)
Dear Elza!
The Bridge/Die Brücke
The Star
Stalingrad: Do You Want to Live Forever 1959
Cross of Iron 1977
Battle for Sevastopol
The Winter War - extended cut (1989) did I just see a BA3/6?
Dneproviskiy Rubezh (2009) "Dnieper Border"
Paniflov's 28 (Paniflov's 28 Men aka The Battle for Moscow) 2016 Mark III's beware
Stalingrad (1993)
Liberation (1970) [film series: Fire Bulge, Breakthrough, Direction of the Main Blow, The Battle of Berlin, The Last Assault]
Come and See
Downfall
Schindler's List
Honorable Mention:
Tankers! (2018) A KV-1, nice...
Loyalty was my honor (2016)
Defiance (2008)
The Pianist (2002)
Terrible:
Leningrad (Aka Attack on Leningrad) 2009
White Tiger 2012 -- what the?
Enemy At the Gates (Great book, terrible non-adaption)
Fortress of War (2010) This is the battle for Brest-Litovsk citadel -- great subject, terrible movie...
Stalingrad 2014
Interested in seeing, but haven't yet:
The Unknown Soldier (Tuntematon Sotilas) 2017
T-34 aka Iron Fury 2019 (I'm dubious about this one)
Dear Elza!
The Bridge/Die Brücke
The Star
Stalingrad: Do You Want to Live Forever 1959
Cross of Iron 1977
Battle for Sevastopol
Thanks for the head's up on the 2014 Stalingrad... the trailer just looked downright silly (soldiers charging uphill on fire).
BTW, I would recommend Cross of Iron (has some really weird moments, but I still consider it the best Eastern Front movie). The 1959 Stalingrad movie isn't bad either, but obviously has the burden of the time period of when it was made. I saw the Bridge years ago. If I recall, I liked it but it about facing American troops at the end of the war.
Percy, to a certain extent, sure, but the nature of the fighting on the Eastern Front was barbaric to a level rarely seen in the West.
Some things are pretty constant in war, and other things are particular to particular wars. Trench warfare as depicted in Paths of Glory was a specific kind of horror, one that you don't find on that scale in any other war. The Pacific war had a combination of Japanese fanaticism and the miseries of jungle fighting. The Eastern Front had two brutal regimes fighting a no-quarter kind of war often in bitterly cold environments. etc, etc.
piggy-backing on what Greg said, the Eastern Front of WWII was unique:
(1) in it's scale. See video I will post below. You had battles in Russia such as Kiev where over 600,000 troops were surrounded and captured (most dying in captivity). That's more than all the troops we lost in the entire war.
(2) in it's ideological underpinnings and racial hatred that gave it a quasi-religious, no quarter aspect.
Movie I didn't see mentioned but I had watched was
Hitler's real-life secretary narrates excerpts in the beginning and the end of the movie. She had died two years prior, but they used her recordings that were made when the movie was being readied to start
Das Boot (The Boat). It's a 1981 classic that chronicles an amalgam of German WWII U-Boat stories into one crew. I have seen the original German version with sub-titles and the dubbed version. Either is fantastic, but I enjoyed the German language version (Das Boot).
Das Boot (The Boat). It's a 1981 classic that chronicles an amalgam of German WWII U-Boat stories into one crew. I have seen the original German version with sub-titles and the dubbed version. Either is fantastic, but I enjoyed the German language version (Das Boot).
The hulu series is great, though seems very unrelated if I recall.
It’s mentioned in the intro. The list purposely leaves out Hollywood movies, focusing only on movies made in Germany or Russia.
Strongly recommend the Hardcore History podcast series on the Eastern Fromt (called Ghosts of the Ostfront I think?) - I think it’s the best one he’s done.
His WWI series Blueprint for Armageddon is still free though. This series is equally awesome.
There are movies with some good scenes like the Volga river crossing in Enemy at the Gates or the battle scenes in Cross of Iron. The best movie on the list by far is Downfall but I don't really consider that an Eastern Front movie.
A little known three-part German mini-series "Generation War" (or Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter) has some good scenes as well but again, very minor in scope.
Generation War - ( New Window )
Too Hollywoody.. Stalingrad was a battle where Germans and Russians would slaughter each other for days fighting over different floors in a single building.
That scene is so accurate it’s used in museums. I just read that in the wiki link posted earlier in this thread.
I have seen and liked [i]Stalingrad[/] a lot.
I have seen and liked [i]Stalingrad[/] a lot.
I didn't think so.
The apologists tend to argue that the German army was not involved and had no knowledge of the extermination of Jews and Slavs. Anyone who has studied the war in the East knows the army not only knew of both, but were intimately involved. Generation War exposes that myth to Germans (it's a German production).
In fact, I would argue the best and deepest character of the five is not the older brother, but the younger one who transforms from sensitive, anti-war, cowardly loner to the archetype German soldier who doesn't question orders and accepts his fate, culminating in the firing squad scene, and later with the shouting match with his brother (their roles had actually reversed at that point).
It also realistic portrays the SD's role in atrocities, down to the point of using Ukrainian militia.
I believe the most criticism the series received was its anti-Semitic portrayal of the Polish resistance. But in my readings of the subject matter, that was actually quite accurate.
Dneproviskiy Rubezh (2009) "Dnieper Border"
Paniflov's 28 (Paniflov's 28 Men aka The Battle for Moscow) 2016 Mark III's beware
Stalingrad (1993)
Liberation (1970) [film series: Fire Bulge, Breakthrough, Direction of the Main Blow, The Battle of Berlin, The Last Assault]
Come and See
Downfall
Schindler's List
Honorable Mention:
Tankers! (2018) A KV-1, nice...
Loyalty was my honor (2016)
Defiance (2008)
The Pianist (2002)
Terrible:
Leningrad (Aka Attack on Leningrad) 2009
White Tiger 2012 -- what the?
Enemy At the Gates (Great book, terrible non-adaption)
Fortress of War (2010) This is the battle for Brest-Litovsk citadel -- great subject, terrible movie...
Stalingrad 2014
Interested in seeing, but haven't yet:
The Unknown Soldier (Tuntematon Sotilas) 2017
T-34 aka Iron Fury 2019 (I'm dubious about this one)
Dear Elza!
The Bridge/Die Brücke
The Star
Stalingrad: Do You Want to Live Forever 1959
Cross of Iron 1977
Battle for Sevastopol
shame that Russia's colossal sacrifice in WWII was followed by such wretched governance since. The people deserved better.
True, of course, about different war and place, but at bottom are they not all the same?
is that worth watching?
Dneproviskiy Rubezh (2009) "Dnieper Border"
Paniflov's 28 (Paniflov's 28 Men aka The Battle for Moscow) 2016 Mark III's beware
Stalingrad (1993)
Liberation (1970) [film series: Fire Bulge, Breakthrough, Direction of the Main Blow, The Battle of Berlin, The Last Assault]
Come and See
Downfall
Schindler's List
Honorable Mention:
Tankers! (2018) A KV-1, nice...
Loyalty was my honor (2016)
Defiance (2008)
The Pianist (2002)
Terrible:
Leningrad (Aka Attack on Leningrad) 2009
White Tiger 2012 -- what the?
Enemy At the Gates (Great book, terrible non-adaption)
Fortress of War (2010) This is the battle for Brest-Litovsk citadel -- great subject, terrible movie...
Stalingrad 2014
Interested in seeing, but haven't yet:
The Unknown Soldier (Tuntematon Sotilas) 2017
T-34 aka Iron Fury 2019 (I'm dubious about this one)
Dear Elza!
The Bridge/Die Brücke
The Star
Stalingrad: Do You Want to Live Forever 1959
Cross of Iron 1977
Battle for Sevastopol
Thanks for the head's up on the 2014 Stalingrad... the trailer just looked downright silly (soldiers charging uphill on fire).
BTW, I would recommend Cross of Iron (has some really weird moments, but I still consider it the best Eastern Front movie). The 1959 Stalingrad movie isn't bad either, but obviously has the burden of the time period of when it was made. I saw the Bridge years ago. If I recall, I liked it but it about facing American troops at the end of the war.
is that worth watching?
IMO, not only a top 3 WWII movie, but an outstanding movie overall.
Percy, to a certain extent, sure, but the nature of the fighting on the Eastern Front was barbaric to a level rarely seen in the West.
Some things are pretty constant in war, and other things are particular to particular wars. Trench warfare as depicted in Paths of Glory was a specific kind of horror, one that you don't find on that scale in any other war. The Pacific war had a combination of Japanese fanaticism and the miseries of jungle fighting. The Eastern Front had two brutal regimes fighting a no-quarter kind of war often in bitterly cold environments. etc, etc.
(1) in it's scale. See video I will post below. You had battles in Russia such as Kiev where over 600,000 troops were surrounded and captured (most dying in captivity). That's more than all the troops we lost in the entire war.
(2) in it's ideological underpinnings and racial hatred that gave it a quasi-religious, no quarter aspect.
Link - ( New Window )
is that worth watching?
Yes. The entire movie is excellent, but Bruno Ganz gives one of the most authentic portrayals of Hitler you'll find on the screen.
The polar opposite of Taika Waititi's portrayal!!
The hulu series is great, though seems very unrelated if I recall.