TaryBiggBall
It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.
Seraherrera
The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity
Aneesa Wardle
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
luciansarbu
This movie is just... wow! Mind blowing...
I was thinking at 'Letters from Iwo Jima' by Clint Eastwood - this is the only war movie that can compete with it in terms of intensity, the profile of drama, tragedy, poetry, heroism and historical realism.
It's not the usual WW2 movie that can be seen at Hollywood, with big 'good' allied soldiers killing like a machine gun a lot of 'bad' enemies. It's a movie about a defeat, about a tragedy. Hope and death. Suffering. Love. And a lot of sacrifice.
However, beside its strong moral and ethical weight, the movie really looks good: image, special effects (I suspect some CGG was involved), sound, music (which is simply wonderful) everything looks like in a Hollywood made movie.
And, as far as I know, the historical truth was almost 100% respected.
In short, this is a movie which is both educational and fun. For me it's a 10/10... I didn't knew that the new Russian wave can make such brilliant masterpieces!
FedRev
Fortress of War is a powerful war film that illustrates in microcosm the sacrifice made by the Soviet people in defeating the Nazis. Set in the Soviet outpost in Brest, Belarus, it's an exhilarating film that takes place during the Nazi invasion in June of 1941. Vastly outnumbered, the Soviets bravely repel wave after wave of invading Nazi soldiers. The film primarily follows Sasha Akimov, who at only 15 years of age was able to move around the fortress assisting many separated pockets of Soviet soldiers. While many believe the United States is responsible for defeating Hitler and the Nazis, in reality it was the Soviets who played the biggest role, and Fortress of War provides an excellent history lesson in that regard, as well as being an exquisitely made film
richard6
Produced in honour of the Red Army soldiers defending the USSR Western borders, Fortress of War recounts historical events combined with fictitious chronicles surrounding the June 1941 siege of the Brest Fortress in Sothern Belorussia against the invading Wehrmacht Army Group Centre forces in the opening stages of Operation Barbarossa.This historical event is creatively accompanied by reminiscing narration from an orphaned 15-year old boy named Sasha Akimov. His narration ties together three main defensive stages led by real life Soviet war heroes centered on the resistance zones holding out against the protracted German siege. One location is headed by regiment commander Pyotr Gavrilov (Aleksandr Koshunov) another by the political commissar Yefim Fomin (Pavel Derevyanko) and lastly the head of the 9th frontier outpost, Andrey Mitrofanovich Kizhevatov (Andrey Merzlikin). All three have a different story to tell. The film begins in an archetypal peaceful, though nervous per-war Belorussia in the summer of 1941. The heavy military presence contained in Brest, notably its historic 19th century fortress, explains the current political situation in the country following the Nazi conquest of Western Europe and the Politburo's rightful suspicions of Hitler next intended target. The focal characters are simultaneously introduced intermediately around Sasha's observational narration. The ensuing bombardment by Wehrmacht artillery and brutal assault comes with-out warning and is unleashed with fuming panic. The film thus continues along a direction of separate combat charges and defensive manoeuvres. These numerous skirmishes and scuffles between the two opposing armies are effective, edgy and well-staged. All the combat scenes are extremely effective and mastered by the production team using special effects and pyrotechnics to their full advantage. Because the film was produced by the Belarusfilm Company and in truth many of the cast and crew either lived or parents lived through the nightmare of the Wehrmacht invasion and resultant onslaught of the population, the accuracy to detail is visually authentic and at no point attempts to introvert away from the brutality faced by their ancestral soldiers or civilians during these troubled times. Yet, it does not go unnoticeable that this film contains blotches of patriotism and benevolence. The narration shifts between characters and their dilemmas in the three separate defensive locations at the beginning may appear to be unclear and confusing. Nevertheless, through skillful editing and directing as the film moves along at a steady peace the separate stories begin to coalesce into one and by no means are a distraction.In summary, Fortress of War is a first-rate factual dramatised war movie which subjects its audience to the brave climatic struggle for survival and once again is another example of the evolving historical films from the Counties brutalised by ideology fuelled hatred and genocide that was the Second World War.
sincopato
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.
