Each country has its own "signature dish" in the cinema! We all know American westerns, French melodramas, or Italian comedies. But what genre could become a landmark for our country? Breathtaking war films would definitely fall into the top three. Catch 20 great Russian films about the 1941-1945 war!
1. Cry of silence (2019)
Zina Voronova (Svetlana Smirnova-Martsinkevich) and little Mitya (Leva Girshov) had no choice but to evacuate from besieged Leningrad. Suddenly, the woman decides to take a desperate step and runs away without her son, and Mitya is found by Katya (Alina Sargin) and is eager to help him, passing off as her brother.
2. The Dawns Here Are Quiet ... (2015)
Sergeant Major Vaskov (Pyotr Fedorov) and a detachment of five anti-aircraft gunners are trying to confront the elite of the German troops. After all, at stake is the Kirov railway and the White Sea-Baltic Canal - the most important transport links.
3. Zhenya, Zhenya and Katyusha (1967)
A subtle romantic story intertwined with horrific war events. Despite all the attempts of Soviet officials to limit the distribution of the tape, Vladimir Motyl managed to convey it to the audience. Starring Oleg Dal and Galina Figlovskaya.
4. Holiday (2019)
Six people gather in the Voskresenskys' house "in a special position", and none of them knows how to cook chicken for the New Year's table, because recently the cook was taken away. In addition, the son brings a hungry girl, and the daughter is about to get married. The film stars Yan Tsapnik, Alena Babenko and Pavel Tabakov.
5. Shield and sword (1968)
The four-part epic opened for the Soviet audience a whole galaxy of future great actors - Oleg Yankovsky, Georgy Martynyuk, Valentin Smirnitsky. Soviet intelligence officer Alexander Belov infiltrated the Nazi army under the name of Johann Weiss.
6. Two fighters (1943)
Now it is difficult to assess military paintings of the period of the war, because their task was not artistic value, but raising morale. But the story of Arkasha (Mark Bernes) from Odessa and Sasha from Urals (Boris Andreev) sank into hearts for a long time.
7.T-34 (2018)
Kolya Ivushkin (Alexander Petrov) - yesterday's cadet who is captured and plans to escape. He gathers his detachment on the T-34 and opposes German tanks led by Standartenführer Jager (Vincenz Kiefer).
8. Ballad of a Soldier (1959)
Although the story begins with the military exploits of Alyosha Skvortsov (Vladimir Ivashov), then she mainly talks about his peaceful life in the rear. And brave soldiers turn out to be simple and good-natured guys who could have done so much more if not for the war.
9. Sobibor (2018)
Alexander Pechersky (Konstantin Khabensky) is a lieutenant in the Red Army who ends up in the camps. And in October 1943 in Sobibor, under his leadership, there was a single uprising in the Nazi camp, which was crowned with success.
10. Heavenly slug (1945)
One of the first films made in the immediate aftermath of the war, it helped cheer up thousands of viewers. Nikolai Kryuchkov and Vasily Merkuriev played the main roles in the military-romantic comedy about brave pilots.
11. Own (2004)
The Germans captured Chekist Tolya (Sergei Garmash), political instructor Livshits (Konstantin Khabensky) and sniper Mitka (Mikhail Yevlanov). But they manage to escape and hide in the nearest village with Ivan Blinov (Bogdan Stupka), Mitka's father. True, the decision is not easy ...
12. Brest Fortress (2010)
The Brest Fortress in 1941 took the first blow of the German troops. The film describes the first days of the defense with almost documentary accuracy, led by the commander Pyotr Gavrilov (Alexander Korshunov), the commissar Efim Fomin (Pavel Derevyanko) and the head of the frontier post Andrei Kizhevatov (Andrei Merzlikin).
13. Checking on the roads (1971)
Prisoner of war Alexander Lazarev (Vladimir Zamansky) went over to the side of the Nazis, and is now trying to make amends. For a long time, the film by Alexei German was banned as defaming the bright image of a domestic soldier.
14. The Living and the Dead (1963)
The real saga began with the processing of the diaries of a war correspondent. The dilogy of director Alexander Stolper with Anatoly Papanov in the role of General Serpilin impressed the author of the original novel so much that the image of Papanov is clearly guessed in the sequel.
15. Stalingrad (2013)
A small reconnaissance detachment consolidates its positions near the Volga. Despite the impressive budget, Fyodor Bondarchuk did not take on a grand scale and showed a very intimate, but effective story with Pyotr Fyodorov, Thomas Krechman and Maria Smolnikova in the roles.
16. We are from the future (2008)
One of the most unusual films in the collection intertwines two timelines. "Black archaeologists" are excavating at the sites of former military operations, but one day they find their own photographs in the book ... The main roles were played by Danila Kozlovsky, Andrey Terentyev, Dmitry Volkostrelov and Vladimir Yaglych.
17. Cuckoo (2002)
The wise woman Anni (Anni-Christina Juuso) saves the captain of the Red Army Ivan (Viktor Bychkov) and hides in her house. There also comes the Finnish soldier Veikko (Ville Haapasalo), who miraculously escaped after the retreating detachment left him alone with a rifle, chained to a rock.
18. The Destiny of Man (1959)
Sergei Bondarchuk's directorial debut is based on a story by Mikhail Sholokhov. The valiant soldier survived the war, but lost all his loved ones. However, even in such a situation, he did not give up and found a way out.
19. Come and see (1985)
Elem Klimov's astounding film ran counter to the triumphant stories of a great victory that were filmed around. The director was the first to show the severity of the war so frankly that in the United States his work was even considered overkill.
20. Not a step back! (2007)
In the first days of the war, a group of soldiers is left without a commander and decides to take up defensive positions in the old fortress. Nobody knows what is happening in the world and around, but they are ready to fight the enemy. There are plot twists in Vitaly Vorobyov's film that were not included in Stronger than Fire.
