Brestskaya krepost

A convincing and brutal drama about the war's ugly and scary face, which is as much poignant as it is riveting and engrossing from start to finish.

The doomed fortress of the border town of Brest was built a hundred years before the first onset of German deceitful invasion into the Soviet land at early dawn of June 22, 1941. It had been changing hands several times before, notably in 1918 when it was surrendered to the Germans under notorious Brest Peace Treaty. It was released thereafter to the Poles, then liberated by the Red Army, then transferred to Poland again. Under the Polish administration the fortress was first affected by German air raid in 1939 and significantly damaged under the massive onslaught of the German troops.

Before the end of 1939 the city of Brest (and its fortress) was finally incorporated into the Soviet Union. By the commencement of war, the Brest fortress was a home to a number of Soviet military units - infantry battalions, reconnaissance and artillery regiments, miscellaneous attached units and troops, all-in-all up to 8000 servicemen and several hundreds of their families, wives and children were stationed therein.

The film starts unfolding peacefully on the eve of the war - a regular day in the lives of ordinary people in a military compound - orchestra rehearsals, dancing, shopping, kisses, Saturday evening film screening - the late peaceful everyday routine...

Persistent rumors that the Germans were cranking up preparations for a breakthrough on the border were considered as sabotage and eventually suppressed. But anticipation of imminent disaster was intensified by a particularly creepy late night scene of the special vanguard troops disguised in Soviet military uniform disembarking from a train following subdued German language orders.

Heavy artillery fire that all of a sudden pierced silence at the daybreak of June 22 instantly inflicted heavy human and material losses, disrupted communication, cut off power supply and destroyed military munitions. Followed by meticulously coordinated combat assault immediately afterward, it took the inhabitants by surprise and split the garrison into several relatively small and isolated pockets of nevertheless pretty fierce resistance.

Under massive German attacks the city was defeated fairly early, whereas the small number of the besieged Brest fortress survivors with scarce resources, deprived of food, water and medicine, and with narrowing hope for reinforcement or backing from the retreating regular forces, kept on defending the small plot of Soviet land against the invaders for many days.

Though the essence of the story is certainly a portrayal of the valor of Soviet soldiers that lost their lives defending the first citadel and symbol of Russian resistance, the film manages to avoid as much as possible worn-out heroic clichés and propagandistic pathos that were often compulsory elements even in the best examples of Soviet war movies of the past. Yet, unlike many politically engaged modern movies, it resists the temptation to deride the peculiarities of Soviet lifestyle of that time and to speculate on the popular issues of "Stalinist regime's atrocities".

Instead, the film focuses on accurate capturing of a full range of authentic human emotions from joy, love and devotion at the early beginning of the film through angst, fear and pain as it progresses to hopelessness and despair. It tells the frightening story of regular people, which lives were turned upside down overnight when they end up face to face with unstoppable deadly force menacing their families, their loved ones, their own lives and their country.

It pulls no punches when it comes to depiction of enormous destructions and horrors of war with first rate set designs and visually arresting special effects, but the main asset of the film is, of course, excellent nuanced performances from the entire cast especially the leads - Korshunov, Merzlikin and Derevyanko.

The story is told as if from the perspective of a teenage boy witnessing the outbreak of war and providing narration already as a war veteran that has survived the worst war in modern history. It may be emotionally draining cinematic experience for many viewers, but I believe it could be especially conducive for the younger generation to acquire better understanding of the actual tremendous price the nation has paid for the great Victory.

"- This fortress, fortress here, we keep the defense, - This fortress, fortress here, we keep the defense..."

This film is perhaps the best, but certainly one of the best war films made in the past 20 years in Europe. Talking about the legend of the Second World War, the epic Brest fortress that was first attacked by the Nazi hordes, the first day of the war with the USSR 22nd June 1941.

The story tells of a young boy who is a trumpeter in the orchestra in Brest fortress and all the time movie battle through hell trying to find a girlfriend who is lost in the war. During his quest he survives the horrors of the battle in which he actively participate.

The film is full of scenes of war, desperate efforts of the Russian soldiers who defended the fort, during the most certainly futile struggle. While it is a fortress under siege, the German army has penetrated far beyond the fortress that is doomed to fail, but even when they find out, Russian soldiers decided to fight to the end. Excellent film directed complemented by the strong acting and perfect music. Scenes of war are almost epic, presented with the harsh reality.

Brest Fortress is something similar like the American fort Alamo, just became much larger and more powerful symbol of the perseverance of Russian troops, tragedies, and ultimate victory.

The film certainly has to be seen, and the quality of acting, directing and scenes of war, beyond almost all the western movies so far recorded.

The film shows the people and the destiny woven through this historical epic about the Brest fortress. Avoided, and quite nice, skilled and successful, politics and ideology, and instead of great political speeches film shows pure heroism, struggle, and an iron will, not only from the military fortress of the crew, but also the entire Soviet people to defend the country from the fascist hordes .

Ordinary people, cooks, musicians, soldiers, doctors, civilians become suddenly, on that fateful morning of the 22nd June 1941, heroes, they want it or not, they like it or not. The film shows the harsh reality. Absolute lack of preparation and complete negligence of the Soviet army before the dawn of war, a total neglect of the defense of the nation from German aggression. Shows the persistent struggle of the army commander, Major Gavrilov and warning of impending war.

And Germans come as a shock bolt from the blue. The collapse of the Soviet military is obvious. Mass deaths, the collapse front, panic and chaos. From such chaos and terror, the rise of the heroic figures of defense fortress. Major Gavrilov, political commissar of Fomin and many others that his example of heroism, defiance and leadership endured ten times stronger against the German enemy, to the last drop of blood, the last bullet, the last drop of water ...

Long after the movie, in your ears will ring a continuous repetition of words spoken бѕ radio operator from the fortress:

"- This fortress, fortress here, we keep the defense, - This fortress, fortress here, we keep the defense..."

This is definitely the best war movie shot in the ex-USSR in post-Soviet time. This is what that war was for our country and our people. The level of fiction and fantasy is minimal; the movie is shot as close to historical truth as possible. The Brest Fortress Museum supervised the plot thoroughly. The Brest Fortress became the place where the German invaders lost 5% of their East Front deadcount within the first week of war. Come have a look on how our granddads fought against the Nazis. There are no starship troopers in the movie; just real Red Army soldiers and a deadly mouse gray mass of German invaders that killed 20+ millions of our compatriots and brought to our country countless loss.

In case you've come upon this movie by accident, I'd suggest you go ahead and watch it, and then return return back to read the reviews.

The Brest Fortress pushes war movies to a completely different level of realism, poetry and emotional force. It is so visceral, so real and so emotionally powerful that by the end you're part of the battle and no longer a detached viewer. Not a single shot is wasted, not a single line of dialog is a filler, not a single acting even from extras feels like acting, not a single moment do you feel that this is a movie and not real life. The makeup, the wounds, the dirt, the blood, everything is real and it all hits you with one of the best cinematography in a war movie since Ivan's Childhood. And The Brest Fortress pays homage to that great movie in many ways.

Russians suffered unimaginable horrors during WWII and that trauma in their psyche along with their great heritage of story telling and great cinema combines to create another great Russian war movie.

I feel privileged to have watched this movie, knowing that its still unknown in the west, there is not even a wikki page about it yet.

I like this movie considering all the crap films made in my country for last 20 years. From my view it has almost no propaganda (ok, I'm brainwashed already). Narrator probably is telling less that he could, so some plot points are not that clear, but the film keeps you at the screen for all the time.

And final note to some historians here: if you mention history background and occupation of Brest by Soviet Union in 1939, please go further and mention that it was taken by Poland from Russia in 1919, it was behind the Curzon line (the Poland people were not the majority of population) and should have stayed the Russian city.