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 enlarge | Director: Joseph Vilsmaier
Actors: Dominique Horwitz, Thomas Kretschmann, Jochen Nickel, Sebastian Rudolph, Dana Vavrova
Studio: Fox Lorber
Category: DVD
List Price: $34.98
Buy New: $13.67
You Save: $21.31 (61%)
New (31) Used (13) Collectible (1) from $11.68
Avg. Customer Rating:  182 reviews
Sales Rank: 6622
Format: Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), German (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 150
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
DVD Layers: 2
DVD Sides: 1
Picture Format: Letterbox
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: D5036D
ISBN: 6305037280
UPC: 720917503622
EAN: 9786305037286
ASIN: 6305037280
Theatrical Release Date: 1992
Release Date: November 3, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW, Factory Sealed items direct from the Studios. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Quick International Airmail!
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| Customer Reviews:
 Historically Correct February 26, 2006
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I really enjoyed this movie alot. And being able to understand German really makes the movie better. I have a friend who's grandfather was in Stalingrad, and he said that his stories and the movie matched historically. If you want to see the horrors of war this is one of the best movies made. It shows the human side of war, and that everyone has a breaking point. Great movie a must see.
A must-have movie for students of German military history. February 25, 2006
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
Some of the reviews of this film are dead-on in their appraisal that in the last hour it goes awry, but overall, this is the best movie to date which takes a hard look at Stalingrad. The political appologies which the film maker deemed neccesary to include are out-of-place. Still, great battle scenes and worth the price.
Deeper than hell; what canst thou know? _ November 13, 2005
67 out of 69 found this review helpful
That was the question Job once asked himself in the Bible. If Job had been alive and on the eastern front in World War II he may have found the answer to his question - Stalingrad. The hellish battle of Stalingrad, as seen through the eyes of a small band of German soldiers, is the subject of director Joseph Vilsmaier's visually stunning and brutal film Stalingrad.
Stalingrad begins on the Italian coast where a German platoon enjoys leave after the Battle of El Alamein in North Africa. Recovering from wounds and enjoying wine and German women while sitting along a bright, sunny, beach the men are called to order. A new opportunity for glory awaits them in Russia. Next stop Stalingrad. We see the platoon boarding a train and entering a tunnel in Italy and exiting a tunnel into Russia. We see the platoon's new officer Lt. Witzland writing home to his wife. A stranger to battle, Witzland writes of the glories to come and of his hopes that he will prove himself to the battle-hardened men under his command. As we shall see, Witzland does indeed prove himself but not in the manner he could ever have predicted.
Witzland's baptism starts immediately upon disembarkation on the outskirts of Stalingrad. Horrified at the mistreatment of some Red Army prisoners he protests only to find himself knocked into the mud and sneered at by the powers that be. Word quickly spreads that this callow youth is a "friend of the Russians" and only his father's military background saves him.
The platoon is ordered to take a factory and the horror begins. Amidst flame throwers, horrible deaths and raw sewage all thoughts of romantic heroism evaporate and Witzland soon learns that survival is the one and only rational, if hopeless, goal one should take into war. Witzland's ultimate humanity never deserts him and, contrary to orders, tries to arrange a brief truce so that the Russians and Germans can gather their wounded. The truce is horribly boggled and the platoon's descent into hell continues in lock step with Stalingrad's descent into a frozen Russian winter. The platoon is arrested for trying to jump the line to get one of their men some medication and they find themselves doing duty as human mine sweepers.
The German army is soon encircled by a Red Army break out and despite the devastation they know is forthcoming the fanatics among them commit even greater horrors. As the men wait for a break through that never comes the excesses of the fanatics continues. The appearance of the men devolves along with the situation. The end, the apocalypse that awaits the trapped Germany army is inevitable; only 6,000 men out of more than 250,000 survived the battle or their imprisonment in the USSR. Witzland's final attempt to reclaim his humanity is a stunning one.
The above outline does not do justice to the power of Stalingrad. Although seen through a German lens that captures no small amount of the humanity of the common German foot soldier, it does not flinch from showing the horrors unleashed in the name of the German people, the Volk, and overseen by a series of true-believers for whom no act of violence is too sadistic or too meaningless. Portraying the differences between the typical German foot soldier and the S.S. for example is not new. However, Vilsmaier handles the distinction in an effective and (seemingly) realistic way that neither excuses the behavior nor tries to limit attribution of horrific acts to a small group of less than human soldiers. Brutality is omnipresent but that brutality renders the flashes of humanity evidenced by the platoon all the more stunning.
Stalingrad is a haunting film and one that will linger long after the final credits run.
A BRUTAL GRUNT EYE'S VIEW OF HELL ON EARTH October 12, 2005
18 out of 20 found this review helpful
This film is unlike almost every other epic and acclaimed war film in that there seems to be a true shortage of characters we can feel empathy towards. Edification rather than entertainment comes with the viewing of this film as does a growing feeling of disgust as "Stalingrad" grinds on. We see little from the viewpoint of the Russian soldier or civilian, but this isn't their story. The depictions of equipment, weapons and uniforms appears to be very accurate and the soldiers seem to be well cast in their roles.
If you want to see a film that most viscerally depicts the horror and carnage of war from the vewpoint of the conquering army facing its own inevitable downfall, then "Stalingrad" is your film. Frankly, the anti-nazi, anti-facist sentiments that are brought up by the German soldiers from time to time seem to be addressing the pro-facist sentiment that seemed to be incubating during the 1980s and 1990s more than what was happening at Stalingrad in 1942-43. Suffice it to say that NOT every German was Pro-Nazi during the war.
Nevertheless, concentrating on how 1 company of German Storm Troopers dealt with this most horrific battle of attrition does help give a face to this battle, from out of the history texts, directly onto our screens, and aids in making so enormous a topic more manageable in scope. By the end of the film, with the German infantrymen either extinct or on their way to oblivion, we do clearly see the insanity of war which is obviously the goal of this film.
MY SUBJECTIVE THOUGHTS ON "STALINGRAD":
This is a bleak depressing story and is told in that manner. It is also a film that I don't feel like seeing again anytime soon. However, "Das Boot" was also such a story, was made with many of the same production people yet I find myself repeatedly viewing "Das Boot" in the extended version in both English and German on DVD. I watched the video so many times that I wore it out. In other words, "Stalingrad" is a film that has "high production values" and "high historic importance" and it is about a topic I am very interested in, but I don't feel any desire to see this film again. It probably comes back to the lack of sympathetic characters among the German soldiers which was not the case in "Das Boot". I always feel devastated at the end of "Das Boot" at the sight of the Captain dying and the U-boat sinking in its home berth from a sudden unexpected air raid. When "Stalingrad" was finally over [and its much shorter than Das Boot] I felt relieved.
ABOUT THE RECORDING:
This video is "Widescreen" and dubbed in English.
This movie is no Hollywood Production June 29, 2005
20 out of 21 found this review helpful
I am referring to the previous entries which are in my opinion wrongful and incompetent. I think the intention of the director Joseph Vilsmaier was not to show a "gallant" and "heroic" war movie. If some people miss these gallant and heroic battle scenes during the last 50 minutes then I suggest rather watching Pearl Harbour, Arnold Schwarzenegger movies or any other Hollywood productions with a lacking historic background. Other than the previous author assumed, Stalingrad is no Hollywood but a German production. In my opinion the movie fully fulfils its purpose of an anti war movie and is based on an excellent research in German - Russian history. How can I know that? My Grandfather has been to Stalingrad he didn't want to see the movie because he was frightened that this will bring back all the bad memories. However, my grandfather told me a lot about the experiences he made in Russia and theses stories were neither gallant nor heroic, but cruel and frightening.
To sum it up: If you need some easy entertainments with some heroic good looking soldiers - rather watch Pearl Harbour!
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