Golondrinas de la noche

This is a very good drama series that draws you in with action and relationship dynamics. The script does credit to the Russian production and the cast acted convincingly so that you get immersed in the goings on. I had no trouble seeing past what are, at times, rather simple graphics of the aircraft and quickly accepted that as the style of the piece, while the overall drama was really absorbing. They could easily have spent millions more without any improvement in the real quality of the thing. The drama is a condensation of many separate, real events. It feels odd to be exposed to such fine actors as Elizaveta Nilova and Tatyana Arntgolts who have no other US/European exposure. It leaves you wanting more of the stars and another series. OK, its not John Wick or Private Ryan for violence - it brings in humour and romance. It isn't going to be every war film fan's cup of tea, but if you want something cerebral, based on an incredible piece of history, this will do fine.

"Night Witches" was a World War II German nickname for the female military aviators of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, known later as the 46th "Taman" Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, of the Soviet Air Forces. Though women were initially barred from combat, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin issued an order on October 8, 1941 to deploy three women's air force units, including the 588th regiment. The regiment, formed by Major Marina Raskova and led by Major Yevdokiya Bershanskaya, was made up primarily of female volunteers in their late teens and early twenties. In this series, we try to see the war and the dangerous missions through the eyes of these women, who are forced to fight the war they hate. A very strong cast helps this series to become a classic.

While not a technically great film, The Night Swallows is worth watching if you are at all interested in military aviation and female aviation history. The film gives a basic insight into a brave group of female pilots, referred to as the Night Witches by the German military, who flew outdated aircraft on night harassment missions. A little frustrating was that the entire film is be based on a relatively short period during a single winter. No matter, it remains worth watching as it appears to be the only film or series available on the Night Witches.

I didn't know much about the "Night Witches". I was just looking up WWII stuff on Amazon to watch ad saw this remembering I heard something about this topic.

The acting was good with believable performances. The storylines too didn't drag, and there were definitely red herrings in it (don't want to spoil this).

As far as the cons, I have a few but they aren't really huge cons. There are voiceovers in Russian as the Germans are speaking in German. It was a bit distracting and annoying especially since I was reading subtitles anyway. I also don't know if it was supposed to be funny, but I kept laughing every time a German would say something like "Those DA** witches!". "Get me 1 witch!", and really anything about the witches lol. Additionally some storylines were a bit difficult to follow. That may be due to things getting lost in translation. I also wish that would have given the supporting actresses more of a storyline as the focus was really just on the 2 main actresses. Lastly, the ending just ended. That may be the American in me though who likes closure. I've noticed with non American movies that they just pick a time to end it and it's not all put together nicely. I was just left with what is going to happen to so and so.

Anyway I enjoyed it and binged watched it all in 1 day!

Excellent television series of very high technical and narrative quality. All the characters are highly believable, and the setting is very well recreated. It's a great approach to the mythical figures of these female Russian aviators, specialized in nighttime bombing during the sadly notorious WW2 Russian campaign.

Despite being a TV production, using relative technical and financial resources, the result is of extremely high cinematic quality, on par with the best multimillion-dollar Hollywood productions. This series, similar to the American "Band of Brothers" but with a much lower budget, faithfully brings to life the wartime atmosphere of a group of soldiers, this time women, and their human experiences in a context as tremendous as war. For those who want to delve deeper into the subject, I recommend watching the film "V nebe 'Nochnye vedmy'" from 1981, which is about the same group of women aviators.