Oni srazhalis za rodinu (1975) watch online HD

Russian production. Genre ; WW 2 drama.1975. Based on the novel by Mikhail Sholokhov.

Screenplay and direction by Sergei Bondarchuk with Vasili Shukshin ( as Poitr Lopakhin ), Vyaheslav Tikhonov ( as Nikolay Strltsov ), Sergei Bondarchuk ( as Ivan Zvyagintsev ), Georgi Burkov ( as Alexandr Kopytovskij ), Nikolai Gubenko ( as the Lieutenant ), Yuri Nikulin ( as Nekrasov ), Ivan Lapikov ( as Poprischenko ) & Nonna Mordyukova ( as Natalya Stepanova ).

The film is based on the book by Nobel Prize winning author Mikhail Sholokhov. The action is set in Russia in July of 1942. The exhausted Soviet army was in full retreat against the might of the invading German Panzer divisions. A decision is to hold a ridge with what is left of an infantry regiment near a small village on the banks of the River Don, to allow the exhausted remnants of the army enough time to withdraw across the river and help fortify Stalingrad for the decisive battle that must come.

The loss of Russian life during the campaign was horrific and while there are some impressive set battle pieces, the film concentrates on the exploits of half a dozen or so soldiers from the shattered regiment, who must not retreat even in the face of the Panzers' greater fire power. The film depicts the thoughts and fears of the individual soldiers in the face of the impending battle, and their thoughts of their Mother Russia as well.

While the battles rage, the viewer is not only shown the inhumanity of the conflict, but also the strong personal bonds that develop between comrades in arms in a deadly conflict. There is also plenty of humor in the script, even if it is often grim and tinged with violent overtones. Vasili Shukshin ( as Poitr Lopakhin ) takes the acting honors, with a character that is as much larrikin as it is proletariat.

Sergei Bondarchuk is a great director. He has proved it with War and Peace, with Waterloo and now again with They Fought for Their Moterhland.

The film looks great. It's amazing how Bondarchuk can translate a world to film and still make it feel very real. The production is great, except for some minor things (tank turrets don't move). When I watched this film, I got the feeling that the whole world was at war. Not only these soldiers somewhere in Russia, but that they were just small parts in a big world conflict.

Most people always complain about the acting in Russian movies. That doesn't go for this one. It all feels very natural. The pain they show looks real, their sweat is there and I cannot imagine it with other actors (or acting method). Sergei Bondarchuk himself plays a role and he shows that he cannot only direct, but also act.

What I loved the most, is that this film shows war as I think it is. There are humans, the enemy is just a dot far away and every fight there are losses. Russians and Germans bleed alike. The Soviet flag is shown and it's clear who we are supposed to root for, but the main characters aren't heroes. They fight because they are told too, not because they are tough.

The music is like the music of War and Peace; not really pleasant to listen to, but it's perfect for the film. When an act of horror is shown, voices rise as if they complain. A requiem to humanity.

They Fought for their Motherland is bit like Spielbergs Saving Private Ryan; only without the misplaced heroism and with that touch of humanity.

Maybe not for everyone (since their is a delicate balance between spectacle, humanity and of course philosophy), but when you are looking for more aspects of war than just the heroic stereotype combat, go for this.

In July 1942, in the Second World War, the rearguard of the Russian army protects the bridgehead of the Don River against the German army while the retreating Russian troops cross the bridge heading to Stanlingrad. While they move back to the Russian territory through the countryside, the soldiers show their companionship, sentiments, fears and heroism to defend their motherland Russian.

"Oni Srazhalis za Rodinu" a.k.a. "They Fought for Their Country" is a realistic war movie, with action and drama very well balanced. The greatest flaw in the screenplay is the usual exaggerated propaganda of the heroism of the soldiers, but it is nothing offensive to the viewer. This film has not been released in Brazil on VHS or DVD and I watched an unofficial DVD that skips the subtitles for long periods and consequently many dialogs are lost. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Eles Lutam por Sua Pátria" ("They Fight for their Motherland")

If u never seen this movie, you probably lost great part of "cinema" history. Best russian actors in most dramatic scenes of World War II ... it's like our fathers fought for us. I dont know if that possible to find this movie on english, but you must try.

I don't understand why I had never heard of this film before. It was by accident that I found it, so I gave it a whirl.

And Wow! I think you could write a novelette on what makes this a great film. There's just too much to say in a review, so I'll be general.

This war film is about Russians fighting against Germans in World War II. In ways, it is much like old American World War II films, with the spotlight on a small group of soldiers in one unit.

The director does so much that is superior that I can't even begin to start on his achievement here.

The film shows us the reality of war, including the "down time" in between conflicts, when soldiers peruse the low points.

Yet we are never bored, even when the action is supplanted by drama. The reason is that the script is so well written, and I must also congratulate whomever translated this into English for me, because its dialog would make any American film writer jealous.

One of the clever things our writer-director team does is keep the reality in the beginning by not letting us know who will survive, and who may be a central character.

Two characters dominate the story, a lady's man and a cook. However, the other characters are also spectacular.

What really makes this film work is the humor, a dark humor, but a realistic one, and one that will make you laugh and cry and the same time. When one old veteran tells the story of his trench disease, you'll laugh along with the other soldiers. It's one of those stories that is Hell when you live it, but hilarious when you tell it after the war.

For me, the magical part is something that I can't say without a spoiler.

The camera work is amazing. The drama is amazing. The theatrics is amazing. Okay, it's all amazing.

Its 1942. The war in Russia is going badly for the Russians. They are being slowly pushed back by the ever advancing Nazis. This is the story of a regiment who's slowly dwindling numbers try to survive and remain optimistic as they continue to try to prevent the enemy from ever reaching Stalingrad.

This is a great war movie. As with all Sergei Bondarchuk films this is a movie that makes you think and feel by showing you what its like to be a lone man in a huge situation. We get to go inside the heads of the various characters and we see what its like to be in battle. The battle scenes are good as the Russian soldiers simply try to survive the strafing, the bombing and to keep the Germans far enough away that they don't have a good chance at killing them.

In someways this film reminded me of Terrence Malicks's Thin Red Line which used similar techniques at times (for example: subjective camera, manipulation of the soundtrack, disjointed flashback.) Actually this movie reminded me of several other war films produced after its release and I'm curious if film makers like Francis Ford Coppola and others studied copies of this all but impossible to see film when they made things like Apocalypse Now.

As good as the film is it isn't perfect. The film can come off as a bit too "rah rah" for mother Russia at times, even though the film ultimately speaks to the larger question of defending one's own home land. The film also is a bit unfocused in the second half as the film takes some odd turns; then again the second half has some of its most powerful imagery with the young nurse trying to save the wounded man in the bomb crater and the return of one soldier from hospital.

See this movie. Its a great great war war film which only suffers when compared to some of the gems in the Sergei Bondarchuk back catalog of films.

They fought For Their Motherland is a screen adoption of the prize winning novel by Mikhail Sholokhovis and is directed by proclaimed Russian director Sergi Bondarchuk. It was nominated for the prestigious palme d'Or at Cannes film festival in 1975; which illustrate how powerful the film is. Approval for the film adoption of the Great Patriotic War came from the Russian Ministry of Defence via the Russian cinema council.

The film concentrates on a small number of individual regimental soldiers fighting within a larger battalion on the Russian Steppes in 1942. We are shown not noble soldiers and distinguished officers of the "glorious" Red Army, but ordinary fighting men. They are hungry, dirty, mentally and physically drained. Also, they are exhausted by their continuous 12 months retreat eastwards towards the river Donn and eventually Stalingrad. The soldiers find harmony in talking about home, family and express their emotions and feeling on the war and what it as done to them as people and their motherland. Location is presented impressively on film; firstly, by using wide angel lenses to capture the vast midst of the Steppe salt marches and corn fields. Secondly, by using close angel lenses to photograph the soldiers as they pass through, rest and interact with nervous civilians in the inhabited dwellings. With a large budget comes large battle scenes. The film shows the merciless destruction of land and villages by Luftwaffe air strikes. Defensive formations containing a whole battalion which is broad in scale and includes large battle formation shoots. The film doesn't over exaggerate when handling the destruction, human cost and horror of battle in its scenes.

The main depiction of war, battle and destruction are powerfully focused on individual soldiers. This film tells a similar story for many veteran soldiers of the second world war, whatever the nationality. Boredom, fatigue, fear, fun, friendship, enemies, orders, pain, loss, distress, death and a longing to go home.

They Fought For Their Motherland" tours the inferno imposed upon the soviet people, both military and civilian, on one side by the advancing, all concurring, disciplined German army. And on the other by years of hardship, personal sacrifice, poverty and living to the ideologist view of the soviet dictatorship. This is not the most graphic of war films in todays standard of brutal, realistic, fast passed combat movies. There are scenes of battle sustained injuries and death. However, this film focuses the humanity of war and what it does to the land, and the opinions of people in occupied nations towards the soldiers who are there to protect them. This is a patriotic film from a Russian point of view, which for many years, as at the time of release, future Russian generations, and other nations that fought in the red army, should look back with pride and honour towards those who fought, and died, for their motherland.

As a tradition for Soviet movies, most of the actors here are theatrical actors and their interaction on the screen is nothing if not realistic and natural. But Shulshin's talent makes him rise above others.

If that's not enough you have Nikulin, who was a war veteran himself, in one of his dramatic roles.

The movie is very good. Patriotic I don't find it. War here is shown by eyes of the simple soldier. The war beginning on territories of the USSR, retreat of Red Army, contempt of the Russian people remaining in occupation. To me already 43 and I watched the movie several times. And always, when I reach a scene of wound of Zvyagintsev (Bondarchuk), at me tears in the eyes when to it do operation without an anesthesia act. His sufferings is pain of the simple soldier (Russian, German, the American, the Englishman). Simple soldiers get glory to the powers. Probably the doctor who is taking out splinters from a back of Zvyagintsev is the state which here so simply can pick nippers human soul. In the movie there is all - battle scenes, humour, the drama. I don't think that it is patriotic. Yes, the producer of the movie was Department Of Defence the USSR. But the scenario and direction were done by Bondarchuk therefore promotion in the movie practically isn't present. It is a pity that when translating from Russian the meaning of many phrases is lost.

This movie really surprised me. I discovered I was unfair when I underestimated the creative capacity of the soviet cinematographic industry -very well represented here by Sergei Bondarchuk. "A soviet movie released 30 years after WW2? Total bias and cheap nationalism", I thought when I crossed this piece. What I watched, on the other side, is a verisimilar and vanguardist view of the Eastern Front; a work more tied to denounce than to exaltation.

The resistance of a maimed and disoriented small unit is the perfect background for Sergei; it's a soft earth garden ready to receive the seeds of war. This is the first time I see such good exploration of soldiers' emotions. The scenes reveal the human inside the uniform, the virtues and vices. The one who fears, hesitates and finds refuge in laugh is the protagonist of "They fought for their motherland". Vasiliy Shukshin (the soldier "Lopakhin") doesn't give life to its character; he borrows the life of real people, of thousands of displaced russians who fought under severe conditions and created a whole new living style in the front. The other actors were also convincing. The siberian soldier misses his wife, Lopakhin's partner sees death in everything, Nikolay can't be distracted from his pessimistic convictions, Lopakhin himself feels extremely bad before the death of a youngster... All those marginalized emotions are well illustrated through a touching realism.

Furthermore, Sergei manages to create meaningful symbolisms. The running engine of the upside down tank predicts the empty fate of Wehrmacht, whose ruthless advance isn't translated into a real move, i.e. goes nowhere. The insistence of the young nurse is the best expression of the faith deposited in each soldier. The hard words of the old woman aren't supposed to rise the "mother-loses-sons" cliché, but to reinforce the necessity of fighting the enemy at all costs, of shedding blood. The blood that flows from Nikolay's ear in the last scene marks the legacy of the war, the experiences and sorrows that won't be forgotten. The soviet flag is not unfurled until the final, which could mean the glory of the motherland isn't complete until every single soldier bow down to duty.

I could pass the whole day talking about this movie, but I fear I don't have much space here. This way, I'll be quickly with the other details: the scenery is very immersive; the music is somewhat exaggerated sometimes, though correctly placed; and panzers' strength isn't well described, since a single AT rifle shot (15mm, maybe?) would not destroy a tank. Actually, this two last points are my only criticism and will not influence significantly my final rate. Summarizing, Bondarchuk used all his geniality and resources to create this masterpiece of war cine. All the adversities the conventional heroes would not face are presented to the spectator. The excellence of war and all honour issues are undone; I could be one of those guys and you also. War realism at its best. I would be unfair again if I gave this less than 9.

Not about the global war, the real war occurs inside each person. Sergey Bondarchuk show us a simple way of connecting with all cast. The usual hero war actor is replacing with a real soldier who have fears, willings, and hope. Your feels are honest and always survive the love for your motherland.

Bondarchuk's big world war 2 film has some excellent scenery (as usual) and is mesmerizingly polished from a pyrotechnic standpoint. The two big battle scenes have lots of cool explosions and mock-up Panzer IV's, but lack focus, drama, and realism. The German soldiers don't seem like they're terribly motivated or even trying that hard. The first battle scene is particularly disappointing in this way - with the German tanks blowing up easily after only one AT rifle shot and the Germans too quick to retreat time and time again. Meanwhile the good Russian freedom fighters take no casualties.

Halfway through, the film has a huge battle scene featuring the complete annihilation of a town including a really cool plane crash and explosion. For the next 10 minutes or so the film does no wrong - Bondarchuk himself has a great role as a shell-shocked soldier who bayonet-charges some Germans while artillery goes off everywhere around him. Really cool! The problem is, after that point it's all downhill from there and there's a whole 'nother hour left! This last hour really drags on without much action - just a bunch of boring chit chat.

Also, one of the cameras used in the wide battle shots has the dirtiest lens I have ever seen used in a big-budget film. It's totally distracting and ruins what would have been a couple classic battle scenes. What happened?

"The time is fast approaching when to call a man a patriot will be the deepest insult you can offer him. Patriotism now means advocating plunder in the interest of the privileged classes of the particular State system into which we have happened to be born." - Leo Tolstoy

"Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them!" - Albert Einstein

"Patriotism is a pernicious, psychopathic form of idiocy." - George Bernard Shaw

The legendary Sergei Bondarchuk directs "They Fought For the Motherland", a war film set in Russia during the second half of 1942. The film opens with a magnificent shot, a prowling camera gliding through swaying fields of wheat before finding the exhausted Soviet army trudging through a canyon far below. They're in full retreat, having been recently crushed by the invading might of a German Panzer division.

We then spend some time with the men, watching as they rest and recuperate. They chat and trade stories, before their commander selects a few for a special mission. Turns out our heroes have been ordered to hold a ridge, their small infantry regiment tasked with holding back the German forces so that their exhausted comrades may withdraw back to Stalingrad, where the Russians are preparing to make an epic final stand.

Sam Fuller did this sort of "rag-tag rear guard group of soldiers vs an approaching enemy horde" thing better and with more nuance and complexity, but Bondarchuk is the better visualist. His camera conveys the sheer boredom and exhaustion of these men, and his battle scenes are at times impressive, the expansiveness of the Russian countryside lending his battles a scale which most British and American war productions lack.

The film eventually settles down into a predictable rhythm, alternating between giant battles and intimate moments of downtime, Bondarcuk allowing his cast's sentiments, fears and attitudes to gently unfold whenever the bullets aren't flying.

The film reduces war to the usual traits - everyman soldiers, fatigue, fear, fun, friendship, boredom, heroism, horror, death, homesickness, cowardice, orders etc – and like most of these films, its attempts at portraying war with "balance" and "truth" can't mask how myopic it ultimately all is. A more poetic version of "Saving Private Ryan", the film was financed by the state and the Russian ministry of defence and serves only to glorify war, heroism, compliance, servitude, and act as a low-key form of propaganda.

Like "Saving Private Ryan", the film also ends with sad shots of the Russian flag, close ups of the battered faces of warriors, old men dropping to their knees, utilises various subtle tactics toward propagandistic ends and sports a narrative in which we're manipulated into morning the loss of our everyman heroes, who bravely stood up against foes superior in number. By the time the film ends, a throwaway line urging us to hate our enemies, akin to "Ryan's" nationalistic/militaristic "earn this", goes by almost unnoticed.

7/10 – Worth one viewing.