Soviet films about WWII may be tedious, long or pathetic, but not this one, which is done by the great filmmaker Tatiana Lioznova and since she is a woman the movie has that deep, thoughtful, sweetly painful feeling of heroism, tragedy and bravery. Sure, some things are exaggerated and of course there could never be such an ideal spy as Stirlitz, played here by awesome Vyacheslav Tikhonov. What is very important here is to show what crafty and smart enemy as Nazi were we managed to win over at a cost of 30,000,000 lives. The film is about people who stay human in the fire of war, and about humans who become beasts and cruel monsters. This is the fine example of a great war movie without propaganda or sickly patriotism.
Review of Seventeen Moments of Spring
