ENEMY AT THE GATES (2001) FIRST TIME WATCHING | MOVIE REACTION 

_"I think they're just doing British accents and just rolling with it."_ She's learning.

The German movie "Stallingrad" actually gives you a far better depiction of the horrendous conditions that took over the war of Stallingrad. It was one of the "defining moments" of WW2, that most US/UK/Canadian schools don't spend enough time covering. But it is one that should be studied in more detail as both sides basically fought door-to-door within the city, sometimes with one side of the street being held by Germans, while the other side was held by Soviets.

The relationship between Vasily and Tania is historically accurate Tania was originally Russian (Belarusian) but lived in the USA. During the World War she came to Belarus to take her grandparents back to USA but when she arrived at their home she found that the Germans had shot her grandparents. This forced her to join the Belarusian resistance who were trying to get to the front on the Soviet side. They used the canal systems and joined the defense in Stalingrad. By this time, Zaitsev already had his own sniper school with his own group who called themselves "The Hares", after the name Zaitsev (Hare). Tania joined this group and trained. She took part in the then famous raid on the German headquarters where she allegedly killed 24 German soldiers herself. During the mission,which involved the shooting of Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus, one of the members stepped on a mine that injured Tania herself in the abdomen. She was taken to hospital and recovered. During this time she received information that Vasily Zaitsev had been killed ( in fact Zaitsev was only wounded, he lost his sight during the mortar attack but was restored thanks to surgery). Tania therefore, believing Vasily is dead, later found someone else but could not have children because of her injury. When in 1969 she was interviewed by American journalist William Craig who asked her about her experiences during the time of Zaitsev's group, she was very surprised that he knew this. When she asked him how he knew, Craig replied that he had interviewed Zaitsev. Craig didn't know that Tania didn't know about Vasily's survival so he told her everything, she remained frozen because she still loved him and didn't know about his survival, including his life after the war when he also found someone else.

"It was the most unromantic romanting thing I've ever seen...". Felt that. By far the best love scene I've ever seen. Underrated movie. Tought scenes, yet impossible to stop watching it until the end.

"The most unromantic, romantic thing ever" A good description.

Fun Fact: Vasily Zaitsev was one of the best snipers in WWII, but he was actually not the deadliest Soviet sniper, that was Ivan Sidorenko, who supposedly killed like 500 people. The USSR also had amazing women snipers, the best among them (and the deadliest female sniper in recorded history) was Lyudmila Pavlichenko, credited with more than 300 kills. Although the deadliest sniper in the world was from Finland, Simo Häyä, who supposedly killed more than 500 people. He was so deadly in the Winter War that the Soviets called him "The White Death" and he didn't even like to use telescopic sights because that made him an easier target, he simply used the iron sights of his rifle! Also, I love "Enemy At The Gates". Such an underrated film.

Ed Harris is so intense and charismatic in all of his movies ! ... Thank you Cassie! I loved it ! I would like to suggest a great movie you might want to watch... "The Abyss" (1989) by James Cameron , with Ed Harris and Mary Elisabeth Mastrantonio... it is a beautiful movie. Thank you so much Cassie for bringing a lot of life and joy into my everyday life. It is so fun to re-watch movies for the first time all over again. I am so grateful to you. Thank you!

"He's got the high ground!" Obi-Wan would be so proud of Cassie

I laughed so hard when she didn't recognize Ed Harris, because it was actually Ed Harris, and not Viggo Mortensen.

In Sasha's defense, he (and everyone else) was starving to death. His ration allotment was 4.4 grams (roughly 400 calories) per day, and it was watered down with additives such as pine shavings and sawdust. At one point it went even lower, as they resorted to eating mice and other vermin, leather belts, paper, etc. There is even evidence of children eaten. It was hell on earth. So when Ed Harris offered him the food, it was a pretty big deal. People routinely just laid down and died wherever they happened to be.

28:10 - 28:16 Ed’s acting is superb. He really conveys that death is upon him and accepts it. Gives me chills every time I see it.

You should check out The Longest Day, Many of the actors in this film were actual veterans of that battle. One of the actors had been a runner, delivering messages from place to place. He plays a general that he had delivered messages to in the battle, and they reenact this in the movie, so the actor is interacting with an actor who is playing him. In the movie theme they play the first 3 notes of Beethoven's 5th, which is the letter V in Morris Code.

The man that took over the battle was Nikita Khrushchev, played by the talented Bob Hoskins (The long good Friday, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, etc.) Khrushchev became the leader of the Soviet Union after WWII (1953) and was in power during the Cuban missile crisis.

When I saw that this movie was winning the poll, my initial thought was, "Wow, some people want to really torture Cassie's emotions with this one." I remember being at a female friend's house one night about 20 years ago. She was flipping through channels and came upon the start of this movie. As soon as the carnage started, she eagerly changed the channel. And judging from Cassie's past reactions, I just had a feeling this might be too intense for her. I think I was kinda right, but as always I admire Cassie for sticking with it until the end.

This is my newest favourite channel. As a person who loves showing other people good war movies, watching your reactions to them is really rewarding. :)

Bob Hoskins as Khrushchev is one of the most menacing movie performances ever, and so far from Bob's usual style in movies like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Super Mario Bros, Hook etc.

Memphis Belle would be another great one for war movie Wednesday, following an American bomber crew during WW2

Pretty bummed I only just recently found this channel but Ive binge watched about 100 of your reactions in the last two weeks, lmao. You're too genuine and good at what you do. Thanks for the entertainment!

I have loved this movie ever since I first saw it in theaters. Very underrated, IMO. Both Law & Harris are excellent in it.

I think it's funny how she willingly reacts to war movies but has a meltdown anytime someone gets killed 😂

Cassie, treat Carly to a great western that takes place in Australia! "Quigley Down Under" you haven't seen a Tom Selleck film on your channel. This IMO is his finest role. A decent man doing the right thing. And there's even a love story thrown in! Please give it some consideration! 😊

My grandfather fought in Stalingrad, well, for about 15 minutes at least. A German stick grenade blew just a few yards from him and several of his comrads were killed and took most of the shrapnel. He had several pieces hit him however that came very close to ending his life. He survived, and was one of the lucky few that didn't die in that horrific battle. This is one of my favorite WWII movies as it gives a small glimps of what a nightmare this battle was. It was like D-Day, but a hundred times longer. It is very possible that if the Nazi forces weren't stopped and forced to retreat from Stalingrad, that the war could have gone a very different way for everyone.

My grandfather was an Hungarian who was forcefully conscripted by the Axis and fought in Stalingrad. He was shot in the face, captured and thrown in a POW camp. He survived somehow (only a handful made it back) but never managed to live a normal life after that.

The opening reminded me of one of the earliest Call of Duty games when you play as a Russian soldier. You're forced through the line where they're handing out rifles and you're not given one. After the scripted sequence of the rifle line, sprawled out in front of you is the hell depicted in this movie. I was aghast AND unarmed. I thought the game bugged out and I reloaded the level. I was again NOT given a rifle. I tried to swim around all the bullshit to a safer approach and was shot by a Russian officer. I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation, reloaded once again and trudged forward. One of the best games I've ever played.

"Did the Russian people like Stalin?" Popularity isn't completely irrelevant for dictators, but the Soviets disappeared enough people who criticized him to make everyone go along.

You need to watch "Letters from Iwo Jima" directed by Client Eastwood. It is interesting from the viewpoint from the Japanese.

Such a tense movie. I love it. That scene inside the factory is nail-biting.

My great-grandfather fought at Stalingrad, not directly in it but nearby. He was a soldier in the Royal Hungarian Army (ally of Germany)

I saw this at the theater, and I agree with your final statement completely. The effects were intense (especially on the big screen), Law & Harris were exceptional!

Despite the historical inaccuracies, I thought it was a pretty good epic war drama. My parents and I saw this in the theater and we loved it.

Do anti-war movies such as The Thin Red Line. Beautiful cinematography, poetic and dialogue so good you can almost quote every line in the movie.

This is my favorite WW2 movie. It throws you into the Hell that was Stalingrad but still allows humanity to survive in the debris. Such a great cast and, like you said, great scenery. And I will never not love Rachel Weisz.

One of my favourite war movies is Tears of the Sun. It’s not based on a true story, but it’s story is great and Bruce Willis does an amazing job as the main character. Basically a team of Navy SEALs are sent into the African rainforest in Nigeria to rescue a doctor, but she refuses to leave the hospital without the patients in her care. Some scenes are quite graphic, but it still is a great movie. Highly underrated in my personal opinion. Cheers.

They shoot at the bodies, just in case someone is still alive in there, which their happened to be two soldier who actually were!

The love story is actually one of the main reasons why I like this movie. Yeah I like the sniper VS sniper aspect a lot, but I was rooting so hard for both of them to be together.

The true story of what Stalin did to his own countryman in this war makes Hitler look like a choir boy,I will leave it at that

THe most horrifying part about movies like this is that what soldiers went through was probably much, much worse than what was depicted on the screen. Especially what you see at the beginning. War is always hell on earth. 😞

Joseph Fiennes played Danilov. He was in another really good but underrated WW2 movie called “The Great Raid”. It actually an accurate movie about the rescue of US POWs in the Philippines. 120 Army Rangers snuck 30 miles into enemy territory and rescued around 500 POWs that had been held for 3 years since since the Japanese conquered The Philippines.

Add Memphis Belle to your war movie list. It is very underrated.

I recommend watching the Soviet film "Come and See" from 1985. One of the greatest films of all time.

As for British accents, that's an old thing. Just watch Doctor Zhivago. All the Russians in that very great romantic movie, made in the '60s, speak with British accents!

The British & Americans were not involved in the Battle of Stalingrad. If they made this movie with the actors speaking German & Russian they would have to use English subtitles. If they had the actors speak English with German & Russian accents many people would not watch the movie. The actors are speaking with British or American accents because they are British & American actors.

The Allies were Britain and its Commonwealth (Yes Canada, it was a Dominion at the time), the US, and the USSR, along with various Nazi conquered countries such as France and Poland, who fought out of Britain. The Axis was Germany, Italy, and Japan. After VE day, Gen. Patton wanted to rearm the Germans and fight the USSR. 40 years of Cold War leads me to believe he was right.

My grandfather fought at Stalingrad. He survived the war. There's a really good movie about a female sniper. "Battle for Sevastopol" it's in Russian with subtitles. Also "T-34" is a good one, it's about a tank crew.

Rachael Weiss was at her best in "The Mummy" with Brendon Fraser and it was his best role too. Heroic and romantic but he was also a scoundrel but honorable. What a great movie and if you do watch it definately watch the behind the scenes and the video commentary with Brendon Fraser also. Then there is the sequel, which was just as good, Oded Fher returns to help. The third mummy movie was okay but Rachael was not in it so it could not be as good. There are so many treats in The Mummy including one of the last roles for Bernard Fox, a famous character actor who was in Bewitched, Hogans Heroes and even the Andy Griffith Show as a british Butler... he was also one of the well to do patrions in The Titannic with Leo and Kate. What a career comeback for the old actor. Loved your reaction, sorry it hurt so much.

When it comes to a lot of WWI and WWII movies, it's not uncommon for British actors to play, well, everyone (except Australians). We're watching this film from a third person omniscient perspective, so although everyone is speaking English, and (mostly) speaking with English accents, we "understand" as the audience that they're actually speaking in their native languages with native accents.

“The one with the rifle shoots. The one without, follows him. When the one with the rifle gets killed….the one who follows picks up the rifle and shoots!” Chilling orders.

Highly recommend "Letters from Iwo Jima" (2007). Also, every Ken Burns documentary. They were aired by PBS & are therefor already broken up into episodes. Burns balances the heavier aspects of the subjects he covers with hope & humor. A series of videos just for his documentaries would be amazing!!! ❤🧡💛💚💙💜

Despite the historical inaccuracies this is one helluva good war flick. And as others have mentioned, as bad as the movie makes it look, Stalingrad was much worse. It is estimated that 2.2 million people died there in the 5 months that the siege lasted. That’s roughly 15,000 people killed each day. Let that sink in.

I was just recently sick in bed for 2 weeks and I've thoroughly enjoyed watching all my favorite movies, for what seemed like the first time, through your eyes. Thanks for the great content 👍

@25:23 “On the train, I saw you, you were reading and you fell asleep. I didn’t dare to look at you, you were so beautiful. I couldn’t stop thinking about you, of all the men who would get to hold you…” “Holy crap😭” “…And now I’m the one lying next to you” 🤣 girl I’m sorry, you got me there. I will forever love that line in this movie. So sweet. & I love you kept the scene at 28:18. I love the intensity in that scene and Vasili doesn’t hesitate. Love the reaction❤

Just so you're aware, the whole every other guy gets a rifle thing is a myth. So is the Soviets machine gunning their own people for retreating. There was an order from Stalin that ended up being named the "not one step back" policy, but it was talking about officers who ordered a retreat without orders from headquarters. The attitude with a lot of Soviet Officers was that they had plenty of land to trade for time but by the time the "not one step back" policy was put into place those officers had given up most of the Soviet Union's farmland and oil fields. In fact, if it wasn't for America stepping in and giving the Soviets billions in financial and material aid, including millions of tons of food, the Soviet people would have starved to death not to mention run out of gunpowder, steel and oil. So what happened if a regular soldier did retreat without orders in the Soviet military? The blocking detachments in the rear wouldn't just outright kill them, retreating troops would be arrested, court-marshalled and then put in a penal legion where they would be given near suicidal missions. I know that sounds horrific, but retreating from an invading enemy when your country is on the brink of outright destruction is desertion at best, treason at worst. I know of no other military that would tolerate such a thing and to this day in Western militaries, desertion in a time of war is absolutely punishable by death. The Soviets were in a desperate situation at that point in the war and at least wanted to get some use out of you instead of wasting you by outright executing you. But this was rare. Penal battalions made up a fraction of a percent of the Soviet military. Most of the Russians fighting knew what was at stake and usually had family who was killed by the Nazis and so were extremely motivated to pay any price to beat them back.

They shot at bodies because ambushers hid within them waiting for there moment to strike.

The duel between Law and Ed Harris is crazy

If you want to see a great movie about the fighting in Stalingrad from the German perspective, Stalingrad from 1993 directed by Joseph Vilsmaier is definitely worth a watch. And the Germans speak German and the Soviets speak Russian in that one. :)

Fantastic movie. Ed Harris did a tremendous job. Not forgetting the score of James Horner

Saw this one in theaters as a high school kid and loved it. I’ve always thought it deserved more love. But it seems like it’s better loved than I thought. Love the cat and mouse aspect with Zaitsev and Koenig.

Love how involved you get in these reactions. Not the most historically accurate movie, but it was definitely a gripping movie. All the actors did a good job. I saw Ron Pearlman, and thought for sure he'd be around for awhile, didn't think he would die so fast.

Kruchev is the same man who became leader of the Soviet Union and faced Kennedy at the Cuban Missile Crisis

As someone once said; "War is young men dying and old men talking."

The helmets are mainly for defense against shrapnel and shell fragments -- they won't stop a bullet, especially not one from a sniper rifle.

how about christian bale as a young boy in spielberg's empire of the sun? an amazing actor even at that young age. an excellent war movie told from another different vantage point (japan in china).

Cassie, here's a little historical background about the Soviet Union (USSR) in World War II. The Soviet Union at that time was a multi-ethnic totalitarian police state ruled by the Communist Party with Joseph Stalin as dictator. The Soviet Union encompassed most of the former (pre-World War I) Imperial Russian Empire, including many non-Russian states and ethnic groups (Ukraine, for instance). Russians dominated the government, but many non-Russians rose to positions of power. (Stalin, for example, was Georgian.) The ethnic composition of the Red Army (Soviet Army) at the start of the war was only about 61% Russian, with other ethnic groups comprising the rest. The Communist Party kept tight control over the military through a system of political supervisory officers, commonly known as "commissars", who enforced loyalty to the state and weeded out anyone who might pose a threat to the regime. (Nikita Khrushchev, played by Bob Hoskins in the film, was a historical figure who served as a political commissar during the war. Khrushchev eventually rose through the Communist Party hierarchy to rule the Soviet Union from 1956 to 1964.) During the war the Soviet Union suffered massive damage and horrific casualties. Nazi Germany temporarily conquered much of the western (European) part of the Soviet Union and imposed a brutal occupation regime. Records are incomplete, but it's estimated that the Soviet Union suffered more than 10 million combat deaths and as many as 15 million civilian deaths during the war. Such figures suggest that Soviet losses may have accounted for nearly half of all combat deaths and almost a third of all civilian deaths attributable to World War II. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties

Americans are taught a lot about the Western Front where D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge were fought (because that's where America was involved), but tragically they don't know much about the battles on the Eastern Front between Germany and Russia. The Eastern Front was far more brutal and deadly than the Western Front, partly because, unlike America, Russia did not sign the Geneva Convention so the two sides did not honor the rules of war. Along with soldiers, both sides freely killed civilians by the millions. During four years of war, America suffered about 500,000 casualties combined in Europe and the Pacific. On the Eastern Front, Germany suffered 30 million, and Russia suffered 55 million. In China, the Chinese suffered about twenty million, and the Japanese lost over ten million. The Battle of Stalingrad, the subject of this movie, was the high point of the German invasion of Russia, and the Russians stopped the German advance when it demolished the entire German Sixth Army in six months of house-to-house fighting -- one million German soldiers and 1.3 million Russians died in that one city alone. And that wasn't the biggest battle between the two sides, the Battle of Kursk and the Battle of Leningrad were both even bloodier. (In the China theater, the Battle of Shanghai produced over a million Chinese and Japanese casualties in one battle). The sheer scale of the battles between the Germans and Russians, and between the Chinese and Japanese, dwarfed any battle that America ever participated in. America built about 2,000 Sherman tanks during the war. In the epic Battle of Kursk, the Russians and Germans lost a combined 5,000 tanks in about fifteen hours of tank-to-tank combat. When the Americans landed on D-Day, the Germans had 12 Army divisions posted in France to stop them; at that same moment, it had 64 Army divisions fighting the Russians (not counting the millions of soldiers it had already lost before then on the Eastern Front). When Germany invaded Russia, Stalin was caught totally by surprise, so they had to round up every citizen (including women) of fighting age and threw them into combat sometimes with only one or two days of training. Many did not know how to fire their rifles. That's why the movie depicts soldiers killing their own soldiers for deserting or retreating, because many of them did. American schools (and movies) tend to focus on the battles that America participated in, but the most important and savage battles of the war didn't involve America at all. Even among the battles that America did fight in, a lot of Americans don't know that D-Day wasn't the largest or bloodiest battle for America; both the invasion of Iwo Jima and the invasion of Okinawa were much bigger, yet Okinawa is almost entirely forgotten today.

Other good WWII movies are "Patton," "The Longest Day" and "A Bridge to Far." Also, "Kelly's Heroes" is a good comedy-drama.

21:24 "That was the most unromantic romantic thing ive ever seen" 😂😂😂 i know... that seggz scene is ridiculously great. Great chemistry

The battle for stalingrad was the deadliest battle in world war 2. More than two million combat casualties. (I don't believe that number includes civilians) its a hard bloody part of history to learn about. This movie shows a bit of the scope but tells a more personal story within it. It's a great movie for it.

One sure sign that someone is thoroughly enjoying a difficult movie like this one is the tears. I've seen this movie a thousand times, but Cassie, your tears made my heart hurt. You're a trooper. I'm so glad you liked the movie, it's one of my favorites.

Remember: Stalingrad was the bloodiest and largest battle in all of human history

Jean-Jacques Anneaud always has some weird or original take on sex in his movies. Even The Bear has a strange scene of coupling. The Name Of The Rose has Christian Slater's monk copulating with the village girl. Quest For Fire has the 'first' missionary scene in history... Etc. So the unromantic romanttic coupling fits right in. Please watch Random Harvest. I know you'll love it.

For a good war/adventure movie, you might look at "The Lighthorsemen" and Australian film about the campaign in Palestine in WWI. "They're just shooting at dead bodies for fun" - they're shooting them to make sure that they're really dead. The soldier with the glasses isn't really a soldier, he's a "Commissar", a political officer whose job is to make sure that the soldiers remain loyal (because Stalin was paranoid about possible disloyalty in the Army). Stalingrad was strategically important because of its location on the Volga, but Hitler cared about it because of the symbolism of the name - "Stalin's city". So he refused to give it up even when his best generals advised him to do so; Von Manstein said "Better to lose a city than an army", but Hitler didn't agree so he ended up losing both. Because it was a city the fighting was usually at very close range and was pretty much hell for both sides, but the Russians could replace their losses and the Germans couldn't.

I love the fact that, unlike many people who watch war movies, your reactions are always those of a person who hates war and violence, who unlike many people can't get used to it, who doesn't harden the heart in the face of violent scenes ... respect

I am totally confused as to how Cassie's brain works. She thought that there were British soldiers in the mix of this battle because she heard British accents but completely accepted that both the Russians and the Germans all spoke English! Funny how in movies made for English speaking audiences that happens!

It's not so much that they're using British accents. They're speaking in their natural accents rather than putting on bad Russian ones.

Just to give a taste. During the entire Vietnam War, over a decade, nearly 60,000 Americans died. In one of the scariest and most enduring conflicts in modern history. In Stalingrad, a single city, between 475,000 and 490,000 Russians, at least one million Germans, died in eight months of conflict.

Other war films you might enjoy reacting to are: 1) Das Boot 2) The Imitation Game 3) Operation Mincemeat 4) Eye Of The Needle 5) The Boy In Striped Pajamas 6) The Dirty Dozen 7) The Bridge On The River Kwai 8) Valkyrie 9) Jakob The Liar 10) A Bridge Too Far 11) Escape From Sobibor 12) The Scarlet And The Black 13) Barefoot Gen 14) The Thin Red Line 15) The Guns Of Navarone 16) Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence 17) And The Violins Stopped Playing 18) Grave Of The Fireflies 19) Empire Of The Sun 20) Platoon 21) American Sniper 22) Born On The Fourth Of July 23) Apocalypse Now 24) Full Metal Jacket 25) The Last Full Measure 26) Rescue Dawn Keep up with the great content!

It was amusing to see Cassie react to Rachel Weisz "oh she was in..." - It got me thinking about the absurd range of films she has been in from he comedy/action froth of The Mummy to the brilliant and heartbreaking Constant Gardener. I don't know if Cassie would do a series of films with a certain actor or actress, but Rachel Weisz would be an interesting candidate if she did. When I saw this in the poll, I thought it would be a great one for Cassie to react to as it has some very personal aspects. You have that duel between the two strong personalities, and you have the weight of being an object of propaganda, and then you have the relationships that Vasiliy forms with the people around him. I was not surprised to see how strongly she reacted to it! Staying with films about the Russia with English accents, I'd like to nominate "The Death Of Stalin" as something for Cassie to watch with her sister - it's such a different style of humour that I have no idea how they'd get on with it

I loved seeing a lot of the real famous Battle of Stalingrad Locations turned into setpiece scenes. The Volga River. The Department Store, The Chemical Plant. The Railroad Station.

This film is famous for having popularized clichés and historical errors. I will not mention everything but here are a few of those : 1. During the entire battle of stalingrad there was only 1 time 1 battalion in the soviet army which had to go to the frontline without having enough weapons, but it only concerned non fighting units, so here the opening where only 1/2 men are given a rifle is not historically true. 2. The order 227 (no retreat order) concerned mostly officers, stopping units were placed behing fighting units but they did not shoot at retreating soldiers, they would rather catch them and order them to regroup. Officers who ordered unauthorized retreats were captured and judged, sometimes they were executed sometimes demoted, sometimes transferred and often only received a huge rant and warning. 3. The soviet army did not really used huge infantry charges against well fortified machine gun positions, it may have happened in some occasions but it was not a favoured soviet strategy or a recurrent thing. 4. Soviet snipers always worked in groups, at least in pairs, Vasily was never alone, and his actions were immensely exagerated by the soviet propaganda. 5. (Bonus) The opening scene were vasily puts snow in his mouth to mask his breath is a referrence to Simo Häyhä (the White death) a finnish sniper (the most lethal sniper in history look him up on google) who actully used to do this during the winter war against the soviets, Vasily and him never met during the war.

For the most part in historical films made in the US, all non-Americans speak English in British accents (often because they're played by Brits). Also, during WWII, the British and Soviets were allies against the Nazis. It is the prime example of the phrase, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." That being said, after the war, it was clear that this alliance would not last, as Churchill hated Communism and Stalin hated the West. The Cold War starts where WWII ends.

The Soviet Union lost something like 10-15% of their total population in the war, either directly, from combat losses, or indirectly from starvation, exposure and disease. It’s really hard to imagine a country surviving that sort of catastrophe. Then again, Stalin alone killed more Soviet subjects than the Nazis. The population of Russia has yet to recover from the twin catastrophes of WWII and Communism. Thankful and blessed to have been born here in the USA.

Another great video miss Cassie, you definitely should watch 13hrs next it's a fantastic movie about true events that not many people know about

Everyone who watches war movies should read "War is a Racket" by Major General Smedley D Butler. At the time of his death in 1940 he was the most decorated marine in US history. It's only a short book and is available as a free PDF, but it will change your perspective regarding war movies and wars in general.

In his Death of Stalin review, Historybuffs has a good, in universe, explanation for why actors use their native accents instead of fake Russian accent. Because the USSR was made up of many different nationalities, many of whom spoke Russian as a 2nd or 3rd language, there were many different accents.

While this is based on a true story, there is debate about whether the villain, Major Koenig (Ed Harris) actually existed. The real Vasily Zaytsev spoke in detail about having a three-day long duel with him during the Battle of Stalingrad. However, there is no surviving record of him in German military records. Some believe he was made up by the Russian press to create an engaging story.

Everyone is just speaking normally and playing Russians or Germans. You didn't miss anything, they just didn't make the actors put on fake accents for their roles.

Stalingrad was the biggest battle of the war and marked the decisive turning point for Hitler. In terms of casualties World War 2 was really just Germany vs the Soviet Union and China vs Japan. The casualties of all other nations are almost sideshows in comparison frankly. But because of the cold war that ensued, and because Stalin was just as awful a dictator as Hitler was, we don't really learn about the extent of Soviet casualties and we don't get many movies like this one, and a disproportionate number of US war movies instead. On the other hand, in Russia today they have a completely skewed view of WW2 where they just see it as Russia's Great Patriotic war and they don't really learn about the Nazi war atrocities but rather focus on the Nazis as a territorial threat to Russia.

Dr. Strangelove is hilarious. I also would recommend "The Russians are Coming" and "1941", for comedic war movies.

The battle of Stalingrad was basically a battle of egos between Hitler and Stalin and literally millions of people on both sides died. The book that the movie’s based on is quite good, but is different from the film in that it focuses on the battle as a whole, with only a little bit about the rival snipers. I highly recommend watching (or even reacting to) the short video “The Fallen of World War 2”, which gives a great accounting of the massive casualties inflicted on all nations involved in the war.

One of my favorites war movies 🍿, and no, this were Russians fighting Germans. Is one of those movies were everyone speak English 😉. But based on a Real Russian Soldier .

Both the Germans and the Soviets were ordered not to retreat. The difference was that the Soviets had more people than Germany did. They even went into Siberia and drafted the nomadic tribesmen. It was a terrible war of attrition but Germany was destined to lose. “That guy” was Nikita Khrushchev who took over the Soviet Union after Stalin died.

Great movie, but I am really looking forward to the 13 Hours reaction. Also, the German who was shooting the dead bodies was making sure they were dead. A lot of snipers would hide in the piles of dead bodies during the battle. Edit: it's important to know that Soviet officers were particularly brutal to their own soldiers. Their army was severely mismanaged as a result of being punished for bad news. The officers usually were trying to protect themselves by sending their men to die, then they could report that they fought as hard as they could if there really was bad news. They had a lack of respect for their enemy which fueled their expectation of victory. When those expectations were not met, the Soviets often executed or imprisoned the "responsible" officers. Stalin was a sonofabitch but he was a smart sonofabitch, being able to transfer his wishes and methods of enforcement through an entire nation's management structure. It truly is a psychological tactic that has been studied by professors and experts since his time and likely will be studied for a very long time.

Been more then 10 years since ive seen this. Still as amazing as i remember.

The Russian General in the movie, Nikita Khrushchev, went on to become the premier of the Soviet Union after the war. In October 1962 he brought the Soviet Union and the United States to the brink of a Nuclear War during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

That tractor factory was hell for both sides! It is a great movie that will stand the test of time!

Its one of those movies where they don't try speaking with accents. They're playing Russians. But decoded to speak with their actual accents in character. It's the same in Valkyrie. All playing Germans but still speaking with American and English accents.

With July coming up a war movie you could do for the holiday is Gettysburg. A movie based on the bloodiest and possibly the most important battle of the American Civil War. It took place on July 1st, 2nd and 3rd of 1863. So, this would be the 160th anniversary of the battle. And the movie is probably one of the more historically accurate Hollywood war movies ever made.

I have a Doctorate in History and I love this movie. Historical accuracy isn't something I get wrapped around the axle over when it comes to Entertainment.

Somebody put Threads up for voting. The one war movie everybody should see.

As to why the Soviet commanders shot their own soldiers for fleeing or retreating it was mainly because of the policies Joseph Stalin instilled within the authoritative and commanding branches of the Red Army. Stalin expected his soldiers to not retreat or fall back even if greatly outnumbered. You were expected to fight and die for the "Motherland" and Stalin himself made sure it was known to everyone in the Soviet Union that he was the direct supreme voice and embodiment of the Motherland. Joseph Stalin was every bit the monster if not worse than Adolf Hitler in some perspectives. While Hitler committed genocide against specific ethical groups such as Jews, Gypsies and Slavs in which around 13 million people lost their lives over in the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin throughout his brutal and barbaric regime which lasted for over 30 years would claim the lives of over at least 20 to 30 million and anybody regardless of ethnicity, faith or class could be a victim. Stalin's massive collectivization of farms caused mass starvation and his show trials targeted anyone from top level officials to scholars and ordinary people alike. Stalin used fear and suspicion among the populace to control everyone and develop a cult of personality that rivaled or even superseded Hitler's.