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Great Guy's Movie! (Rating: 5.00) Review : I give this film 5 stars not so much for its storyline or plot (which is virtually non-existant) but for its attempt to show a little known conflict. The combat scenes in this movie are intense. The waves of Soviet infantrymen throwing themselves upon the Mannerheim line gives the viewer a good idea what it must have been like for the Finns. The production value of this film is superb. Those are authentic Soviet T-26 light tanks, and early Yak Fighters. Again, don't look at this movie if you want to see a human interest story or standard plot. The intent of this work is docu-drama. The film accurately shows what the Finns did to resist the Soviet onslaught of 1939-40. There is not much character development here, pretty much all the Finns look like another, but what you see is a gritty determination of a small nation to defend itself against Stalin's tyranny. In the end of course the Finns had to make unfortunate concessions, but few modern wars show a more inspiring image of a small determined people fighting for their survival. This film is worth looking at for its marvalous combat scenes, equippment, and sheer grit. This is certainly a guys movie par excellenece. If you are inspired by it you should read the fine recent history of the conflcit entitled "A Frozen Hell" Good movie about a little known war (Rating: 5.00) Review : This was a war that the Soviet Union waged on Finland in the winter of 1939 to gain access to a port. They got quite a shock when they were met by extremely stiff resistance. This movie chronicles a group of friends who go together to the front to fight. This is a tough bunch of guys, but they never lose their humanity, like most of the nazi soldiers did. The Soviet forces were lacking leadership due to the fact that Stalin had decimated their ranks in one of his insane paranoid murderous purges. This is the war that convinced Hitler that the Soviets would crumble when his army attacked them. The film does have a kind of washed out, grainy look, a little more than Saving Private Ryan did, but that didn't detract from the movie. It kind of emphasized the bleakness those men were facing. This movie has great battle action sequences, and I'll bet if there were environmentalists on the set, they'd have all had heart attacks because of the number of trees that were destroyed by tanks and artillary. This movie isn't hampered by contrived plots, like SPR, or unnecessary love triangles, like what is in Enemy at the Gates (which is a good movie in every other respect). The only quibble I have with this movie is that the subtitles were sometimes hard to read and the English wasn't always correct (but that was kind of comical). Superb Film about a Defining Moment in Finnish History (Rating: 5.00) Review : "Winter War" (Talvisota in Finnish)is the story of the 1939-40 Russo-Finnish War seen through the eyes of a reserve infantry unit. We see them leaving their farms on mobilization, to assembly at the border, and follow them into battle until the armistice some 110 days later. To most Americans who know anything about it, the Winter War is visions of Sissi skiing rings around Russians. True that did happen, but the majority of Finnish units operated conventionally either in the Mannerheim Line or to the North/North East of it. This is what this film describes. The battle scenes are as authentic as any in Saving Private Ryan; if memory serves the "Soviet" Forces are Russian extras. Vehicles, weapons, uniforms are all entirely accurate. It's probably fair to consider this movie as Finland's SPR. Whereas some have criticized SPR for it's somewhat contrived plot, this movie has none of that; simply citizen soldiers called to save their nation. We watch as more and more of their friends are killed and wounded, in relentless Red Army assaults. This sense of loss is brought home again simply, but elegantly, in the scenes with the "home front". The final anticlimatic news of the armistice on the troops is depressing to see, but again entirely accurate. This film is a fitting tribute to the Finnish "Greatest Generation" who also did nothing less than save their nation- twice in 5 years from Soviet enslavement. Excellent & Historically Accurate (Rating: 5.00) Review : The Winter War is the most historically accurate and realistic war film I have seen. During the film, we follow the lives of a small group of friends as they find themselves in the frontlines facing a soviet invasion. All aspects of the movie are well conceived and finely filmed. The best aspect of the Winter War, however, is the fact that there are no underlying subplots. Unlike Saving Private Ryan (which I must admit I also thought was excellent), the characters do not spend the movie attempting to accomplish an unlikely (albeit intellectually satisfying) objective. Rather, the characters try to stay alive, protect their friends, and follow orders as real soldiers might. Another very compelling aspect of the film is it's historical accuracy. Tactics and equipment all correspond to those employed by Russia and Finland in 1939. T-26 tanks, I-16 fighters, and human wave attacks fill out the Russian Arsenal, while the Fins remain on the defensive aside from local counter attacks. Adding to the realism is the fact that much of movie is filmed in a limited geographic area. This allows the viewer to become familiar with local terrain features in a way that few other films permit. Hence, the viewer begins to sense the directions from which attacks might come and beings to get a feeling of what constitutes a "Full-scale Attack," a "Probe," etc. Overall, I would highly recommend the Winter War to anyone who enjoys war films or who is interested in Military History. Due to the lack of subplots, however, people simply looking for an action film or for a simple diversion are likely to be disappointed. |
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