Fedor Bondarchuk, sometimes described as the Michael Bay of Russia, serves up the bloodiest battle of World War II for the first time in 3-D and IMAX in the decidedly eccentric, state-sponsored epic “Stalingrad.”
Russia’s submission for the Foreign Language Oscar (it didn’t get nominated) is reportedly that country’s top-grossing film of all time, and a rare foreign-language work to open in hundreds of US theaters.
“Stalingrad” is worth seeing primarily for its computer-enhanced action sequences, which include not only hand-to-hand combat but a crashing plane and many, many explosions — all staged on impressively designed sets.
Unfortunately, as in Bay’s “Pearl Harbor,’’ much of the sometimes draggy 2 1/4 hours is given to clichéd inspirational drama as a quintet of brave Russian soldiers are holed up in the Stalingrad apartment of 18-year-old Katya (Mariya Smolnikova), the sole survivor of her family.
Assigned to remove this band of snipers is a German captain named Kahn (Thomas Kretchmann of “U-571”), who is more interested in keeping his Russian mistress Masha (Yanina Studilina) — whom he tells “I came here as a soldier, you made me a beast!’’— from being killed.
“You are a disgrace to the entire Wehrmacht!’’ Kahn’s superior (who seems to have wandered in from “Hogan’s Heroes’’) exclaims when what amounts to the film’s central character is for the umpteenth time foiled by the wily Russians.
Though the performances aren’t bad at all, everyone is playing one-note stereotypes in this cat-and-mouse game as Bondarchuk marks time for an impressively staged climax with lots of pyrotechnics.
The whole thing is wrapped up in an awkward framing story — Katya’s middle-aged son recounts her wartime exploits with his “five fathers’’ to a group of German teenagers while rescuing them after a Japanese earthquake.
As you might expect, “Stalingrad’’ is filled with pro-Russian propaganda and nary a mention of the genocidal leader in whose honor the city (now known as Volgograd after its famous river) was named from 1925 to 1961, much less his notorious non-aggression pact with Hitler (who is name-checked) during the early part of World War II.
For more nuanced view of history and the battle of Stalingrad, you might want to check out Jean-Jacques Annaud’s far less bombastic “Enemy at the Gates.’’