Steineded How sad is this?

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

s3276169 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.

denis888 Every nation has their sacred topics, for Russians, this is Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, and as a result, more than 27 000 000 people were killed, and thus it is almost not possible to touch this topic with almost a slighter hint of doubt or criticism. The war caused a huge array of war movies made in the former USSR, as well as modern Russia. Many were great, many were just banal, mediocre efforts. The Brest Fortress is a 2010 work, and it introduces many famous contemporary Russian actors, and the budget is very big. As a result, a very tragic, deep, heavy, dark and merciless film was made. It depicts first week of the war in June 1941, and it shows deeply tragic fates of Fortress defenders. Apart from obvious inaccuracies or goofs, there are huge and impressive battle scenes with many great moments. But the feeling of deja vu and seeing an old Soviet propaganda film does not leave us here. Well done, but with very obvious touches of pro-Soviet sentiments

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.

Londonx54 I came across this film and got a little excited as the reviews were good and I am fascinated by the war on the eastern front. Unfortunately I had to turn the film off after an hour! The combat scenes are chronically unrealistic in my opinion. I know that Russian tactics were meant to be pretty basic at the beginning of the war but every scene seems to involve an infantry charge across open ground. The last scene, before I stopped the film, involved the Russians jumping up from cover and running a good 100 metres at the Germans who also seemed quite happy strolling around in the open whilst under fire. This feels more like 1812 than 1941.In an air raid at the beginning the film persistently showed mini-explosions occurring 6 feet away from the actors. What are these micro-bombs that only seem to happen in film world? They don't seem to do anything so I'm not sure why the Luftwaffe bother to drop them.