A band of determined Russian soldiers fight to hold a strategic building in their devastated city against a ruthless German army, and in the process become deeply connected to a Russian woman who has been living there.
Too often does [Bondarchuk] goad his characters to brim over with righteous bloodlust-and, despite the occasional obligatory misgiving about the barbarism of war, goads the audience to lust right along with them.
– Jesse Hassenger,
AV Club,
28 Feb 2014
rotten:
If you thought Saving Private Ryan needed to be more like 300, then Stalingrad is the movie for you.
– Bilge Ebiri,
New York Magazine/Vulture,
28 Feb 2014
rotten:
Overall, Stalingrad is a bizarre concoction, part Putin-era patriotic chest-thumping and part creaky war melodrama, all set in a superbly recreated ruined city.
– Liam Lacey,
Globe and Mail,
28 Feb 2014
rotten:
Stalingrad is long and operatic, but its message is simple enough: War is hell, but hell, it makes for good cinema.
– Steven Rea,
Philadelphia Inquirer,
28 Feb 2014
rotten:
To wave a flag, sing a song and celebrate it as the uncomplicated and inevitable victory of good over evil is the sort of easy message only an old propagandist - or a president for life - could really cheer.