Fortress of War (2010)

Why so much hype?

To me, this movie is perfection.

Load of rubbish!!

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Fortress of War eloquently and with painful honesty, captures the true face of war.This film like other Russian productions, understands and conveys wars reality, without judgment or pretension. For the entirety of this film you gain an insight into the human condition when faced with the cruel horrors of war. You get to know characters, to empathize with them and then watch what war does to them. Its not an easy experience but its not mean't to be. Fortress of War ticks all the boxes on the artistic and technical front. The acting in this film is excellent. So much so, I quickly became engrossed and forgot I was reading subtitles all the way through. Its sets are fantastic too, as are the costumes, the action and the special effects. Indeed, I can not find a single thing to say about this film that's not positive. Its a remarkable piece of cinema in any language that ranks up there with other Russian classic's, like Come and See. Ten out of ten from me.

That this film was commissioned to mark the anniversary of the events portrayed in it might not sound that promising. That it was commissioned by the Belarusian government, widely considered "the last dictatorship in Europe," mightn't either. And promising it wasn't, when I sat down to watch what I thought would be just another war flick. Boy, was I wrong...Say what you want about the Eastern front in WWII, but if there has ever been a battle for survival, that was it: in spite of their government, and in spite of having contributed themselves to starting the war (there is another excellent film, "Katyń," about that issue), Soviet citizens really did fight heroically for their land against an enemy who wanted them wiped off the face of the earth. Acts of heroism are countless, and there are many stories of dedication from that grim period that are almost incredible.Had this film approached more "general" (that is, political) issues, it might have not really been that great. Yes, the Soviet government was just as responsible for the colossal defeat in the Summer of '41 than the Germans (perhaps more, since they were supposed to defend their people). Yes, that land used to be, until 1939, Polish; but the film blissfully leaves those issues (which are hinted, if briefly, clearly enough at the beginning) aside and rather concentrates on the facts of that summer.The men and women who were abandoned to their doom took their fate with admirable conscience and great courage, and this, thankfully enough, is represented by the filmmakers with great respect and honesty: while a lesser director might have butchered the project with cheap sentimentality or a "that's what we'd all do" message -or with grotesque sanitizing and sanctification- director Aleksandr Kott chose to let the facts speak for themselves, and let people's decisions describe them.An important note on "Brest Fortress" (and a sign of great rigour and mastery) is that we, as audience, are not moved to say: "Yeah, that's what I would do if I were him." It is a quite relevant feature of modern war films, but think about it: do you really know what to do? What would you do if you had absolutely no hope of either you or your loved ones getting out of here alive? It really takes nerve to answer honestly to that question, and the film, both in its clear and profound screenplay and in its powerful images (the dirt, the violence and the hunger are portrayed as realistically and skillfully as ever), does make you say: "I don't know if I could muster such courage myself." It's quite an achievement for an artist.And it's quite a tribute to the dead.

There can be no doubt that The Fortress is a cinematic masterpiece with grade one photography, acting, special effects, screenplay, pace and emotional depth. None of this is questioned and all readers are recommended to view it. Basing the story from the viewpoint of a child trainee soldier was particularly effective and the film effortlessly holds viewer attention throughout the generous 138 minutes.Moreover the film was well researched in many aspects. Not only were the sets extremely accurate in their portrayal of the fortress but even the ruins were perfectly reconstructed from post war photographs. The officers really existed and their heroism was deservedly depicted.But it is without question a work of huge political propaganda. And it completely failed to illustrate the true horror of war as it really happened.In every battle the wounded always outnumber the dead. Indeed many die subsequent to the injuries of combat and the percentage of soldiers killed outright is normally rather low. War is not a computer game in which the fallen just drop dead on the spot with a little groan. It is a sea of suffering and screaming and agony in which the able are caught in a quandary whether to aid the victims or run for safety.But this was not at all captured in the film. The victims just die instantly and lie there in huge peaceful heaps. Even their faces appear as if they just went to sleep. Of course this is rubbish.The film depicts those Russians that fought on as heroes whilst any soldiers that left are slurred with the implication of cowardice. The Germans are portrayed as inhuman killing machines without compassion and slurred with the entirely untrue concoction of using civilians as human shields in their attack. Russian attacks are shown as courageous head on charges across open ground as if they were led by 19th.century heroes whilst in fact the leadership was inept and too inexperienced to coordinate effective counter attacks. The film did not portray the brutal use of boy soldiers by the Russians as ammunition feeders to machine gun posts and ID tag collectors from the fallen. And Commissar Fomin is shown to have given himself up for execution as a Jew whilst in fact he was betrayed by his own men as a hated Bolshevic. Such details suggest a very different reality inside the stubborn pockets of resistance than the film portrays. And it takes little imagination to understand the motive.'Stalingrad', the notable 1993 epic of that engagement remains supreme in the honest depiction of war and this film cannot reach it. Ultimately heroism and barbarism are individual aspects of battle and not national psychologies. But this film attempts to show good and evil as if there can be a good side to war. And it never suggests that Russian preparations to attack Germany in 1942 were well under way in 1941 and that Hitler only attacked first before Stalin did the same to him.Sorry readers but this film must be taken with a large pinch of salt. Nevertheless I did shed a tear with the old man at the end and my heart went out to the young musician boy as it was meant to.

Well, first off, I found out about this while chatting with fellow Russian rifle collectors (they mentioned the movie had excellent scenes with lots of interesting weapons). They pointed me to youtube, and in the first 2 minutes, I was hooked.The first 15 minutes are background story (which really fleshes out the movie and helps you see the actors as human beings). Then the fighting begins, and it truly doesn't let up from there. There are several scenes of intense violence (it's a war movie, what do you expect?), but overall they were very tastefully done (this isn't SAW VI after all).Now, I did have a few complaints, such as extremely poorly designed replica MG34's (they look like a hybrid between a '34 and an MG42), but overall this movie is the best war movie I've seen in recent years, and it's definitely a nice change of pace from watching Jude Law acting like a cardboard standee of himself in Enemy at the Gates.