Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Gem, 9 Sep 2007
Based on a short story of the same name by Emmanuil Kazakevich, Lebedev manages to harvest every last drop of action and emotion out of it, without resorting to Holloywood style and tactics.
A great cast of young actors gives a fresh and unfettered performance, among them Igor Petrenko and Alexei Krevchenko who also stars in the most touching and authentic of all Russian WWII films: Come And See [1985].
The Star is really a call sign and in the film it is often juxtaposed by the search flares which fall like dying shooting stars into the landscape. Lebedev uses many such symbols throughout the film to evoke the romanticism and harshness of the original text. In one scene for example, Sparrow recites the lyrics to a German folksong: 'Ich weiss nicht was soll es bedeuten,...' (I don't know what meaning there is); in another we see doves before the impending last fight.
For authentic effects, most of the film was shot in the Moscow region - Alabino, Zvenigorod, Novogorbovo, Ananyino, and the rail station of Ostankino. Real German locomotives (booty from WWII) were shunted onto the railings for even more authenticity, with live special effects during the attack scenes.
Lebedev manages to evoke emotions and relations among the young men with the clever use of shots and scenes, highlighting that in those turbulent and deadly moments they barely have time to get to know one another. A particilarly meaningful moment is thus highlighted on the back of a truck when his comrade watches 'Sparrow' sleep with the light gliding over his face.
A tense and fascinating film, which proves that Russia can still hold its own in film making, and that there are other styles which tell a good story well. Recommended viewing.
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44 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mother Russia's sons at war., 14 Jun 2007
This film is made with love. You can feel it in every scene. It is sentimental like the Russian people. The battles are awesome. The tension is excrutiating. You care about the characters. Everyman's death is portrayed quite uniquely. It is the first truly accessible Russian war film for western audiences. The film has moments of almost painful beauty and sadness. I liked it alot.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A view from the Eastern Front, 28 April 2008
This is a solid, if not quite spectacular war themed effort from Russia, focusing on the efforts of a young recon squad, infiltrating the German lines to send back information on troop concentrations. Unfortunately we don't get many Russian war films seeing English release, which is a shame as there is an important story to be told, one which many English speaking folk are not familiar with, and as far as we know America won the war on their own! This film obviously had a decent budget, the attack on the train station is replete with big bangs and fireworks, and the final set piece is intense. The acting is solid, the script not too bad (well, the subtitles at least, my knowledge of Russian is neglible), but it does feel quite old fashioned in places, some of the direction and cuts will raise an eyebrow (the up close, on rails, third person view of a death scene of one brave soldier is bizarre to say the least), and one shot that very swiftly goes zoom - cut - zoom - cut - zoom each to a dramatic musical note is like something out of the 50s, but hey. The film works, and the ending is suitably Russian and resolutely un-Hollywood. At 90 minutes, it doesn't outstay it's welcome, and if you enjoy the genre and are interested in a Russian action movie take on WWII, then you should check this out.
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