The Eastern Front

Unfortunately this movie exhibits all the normal amateurish flaws that result when a movie is written, produced and directed by the same person. A lot of hard work, time and expense wasted in a final product which should never have been released in its current state.

Those of you bored by the lack of movies out at the moment might be tempted to take a punt on this indie war film. The cover looks quite good, there's battles and tanks and loads of action.

Don't judge a movie by it's cover. Never has saying been more true. The tank on the cover? Not in the movie. The war ravaged buildings on the cover? Not in the movie. The barbed wire fences on the cover? Not in the movie. The soldiers running through battles? Not in the movie. You get the picture.

This is a disappointing movie. Instead of "this is hell on earth" the tagline should have been "a walk in the countryside".

I could go on about the bad props, the mismatching uniforms, the terrible British and American accents, the anachronisms, the fact that none of the soldiers know how to use their weapons, they have guns with infinite ammo, weak editing, poor directing, etc. but you would be as bored as I was watching the movie.

They obviously had a shoestring budget and it shows. The writing is second rate as is the acting and the directing. That it was filmed in the leafy lanes of southern England is obvious; the vehicles, uniforms, and weapons are all obvious inaccurate stage props. It has the feeling of a movie made by the Scunthorpe Amateur Dramatics Society who somehow got some money to make a film but they had to use Mrs Minge's back garden as a set and find whatever props they could from the basket back stage at the Town Hall theatre.

I can't say I am an expert in WWII overview and detailed scrutiny of the events our grandparents witnessed. Yet I can say I've gone through enough literature to claim this film has nothing to do with either WWII or dramatic interpretation of it at least. It seems like men who shot the film do not have an understanding of what they are portraying.

Atmosphere. As many noted it is just a walk by countryside landscapes. It is not like that at war. The war is about the thought you could die next second. Is about endless tension wrenching out your guts. It is about disgust and nauseating feeling gripping you unrestrainedly. What we have here is debates over what we do next and how it would feel like when we do.

Behavior of characters. Let me think...From odd to sometimes foolish. German soldiers are polite, gentle and even nice at their actions. Good guys ended up in a wrong time and place. Just read what was happening at the front from chronicles. Russian female soldiers are gentle, sympathetic yet witty. The scene they convince their enemy to spare their lives in exchange for nursing a wounded German the truthfulness of the film events is questioned firmly. The seen a fragile medic easily shoots a combat German thug carelessly strolling out - kills the film instead of a character.

War. Where is it? We see a group of men in uniform and it doesn't mean the war is happening somewhere around.

Plot. I am a hater of low-budget Russian series devoted to WWII, yet watching this movie I had no other option but to redeem my point of view to a better, much better level.

Total - disappointment. Not recommended for watching.

Don't worry about odd accents (or lack of them), don't worry about uniforms of dubious accuracy, don't worry about much of any other complaint.

The simple fact is that this movie is, quite simply, boring. The 'dramatic' sequences would be better served in a mid-day soapie or straight to TV movie from Hallmark, such is the acting involved. The tension, drama, etc one might expect from the scenario simply isn't there and the predictable end is as worthless as the rest of it all.

Unfortunately, this movie is testament to the fact that you may own some uniforms or vehicles, you may have a bunch of friends who are keen to help you and you may own a camera, but this doesn't mean that you can act, direct or even attempt to produce something worth watching and when you attempt to do all of that on a shoe-string budget, it shows.