Cosmoline
Member
I recently picked the DVD up at Amazon. It goes for a hefty $45 clams new, but there are used ones that come up from time to time. I got mine for around $20 and it's in mint condition.
Here's the overview:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098437/
It's a Finnish film about the Winter War, made in 1989. The film is exceptionally graphic, exceeding even "Saving Private Ryan" and other recent US films that don't shy away from blood. It chronicles the service of one squad of Civil Guard soldiers as they are called up, go on training and then endure the war itself. It ends with the cease fire.
The Finns were, of course, short of everything from uniforms to ammunition. The soldiers were expected to stop mass assaults supported by Soviet tanks and artillery with little more than their rifles. But somehow they did. However it came at a high price. Over the course of the war virtually the entire unit is destroyed, which reflects the enormous losses suffered by the front line units in that exceptionally bloody conflict.
I would place it first among "Mosin Movies." The opening shot is in fact of Finnish Mosins, and the actors appear to have been well trained on them. There's none of the clumsy fumbling with the bolts seen in other films with the rifles.
Talvisota is far more brutal than "Enemy at the Gates" and the action is more realistic. The film properly shows that the Soviet mass charges weren't just hairbrained suicide missions. They were generally well orchestrated charges backed by heavy weapons. But when you charge towards trenches lined with Finnish marksmen and their 28/30's--you die. From a tactical point of view, the film gets across how vital marksmanship was for the Finns. It made all the difference, and was critical in the victory of a small, well-trained force over a much larger, poorly-trained force.
Since the Winter War itself was more of a harbinger of the Cold War than part of WWII, it's not really an "eastern front" movie. It's well worth picking up.
The only complaints I have are about the DVD itself. It was put together by a small outfit on what most have been a tiny budget and was never remastered. The DVD copy appears to have been transferred from video, and it's pretty dark. Eventually we should get a proper DVD edition, but in the mean time this one works fine.
Here's the overview:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098437/
It's a Finnish film about the Winter War, made in 1989. The film is exceptionally graphic, exceeding even "Saving Private Ryan" and other recent US films that don't shy away from blood. It chronicles the service of one squad of Civil Guard soldiers as they are called up, go on training and then endure the war itself. It ends with the cease fire.
The Finns were, of course, short of everything from uniforms to ammunition. The soldiers were expected to stop mass assaults supported by Soviet tanks and artillery with little more than their rifles. But somehow they did. However it came at a high price. Over the course of the war virtually the entire unit is destroyed, which reflects the enormous losses suffered by the front line units in that exceptionally bloody conflict.
I would place it first among "Mosin Movies." The opening shot is in fact of Finnish Mosins, and the actors appear to have been well trained on them. There's none of the clumsy fumbling with the bolts seen in other films with the rifles.
Talvisota is far more brutal than "Enemy at the Gates" and the action is more realistic. The film properly shows that the Soviet mass charges weren't just hairbrained suicide missions. They were generally well orchestrated charges backed by heavy weapons. But when you charge towards trenches lined with Finnish marksmen and their 28/30's--you die. From a tactical point of view, the film gets across how vital marksmanship was for the Finns. It made all the difference, and was critical in the victory of a small, well-trained force over a much larger, poorly-trained force.
Since the Winter War itself was more of a harbinger of the Cold War than part of WWII, it's not really an "eastern front" movie. It's well worth picking up.
The only complaints I have are about the DVD itself. It was put together by a small outfit on what most have been a tiny budget and was never remastered. The DVD copy appears to have been transferred from video, and it's pretty dark. Eventually we should get a proper DVD edition, but in the mean time this one works fine.
