Tanks for Stalin (2018) User Reviews

Wet dream of Uncle Joe...

[messerus1 · 4/10 · 14 April 2019]

"When comrade Stalin will lead us to the battle..." The ending song of this interesting movie, like many pre-war songs tells about upcoming enemy attack. The enemy is of course everywere. Outside as shows this movie inside. After years of terrorising own people, after many, many uprisings against soviets, against destroying agriculture, against hunger, after milions of killed, overpowered by hunger, sent to "work" camps, Soviet Union has still many enemies inside the country. The rally of this two tanks took place in March 1940. The country was finally paralyzed by arrests which almost over exactly a year ago. The Great Purge or Great Terror. Stalin not only cut off some officers from the army (not as much and not as proffesional as it is usually believed) but also ordered to kill or imprison many other people. Without few milion citizens killed and about ten milions imprisoned, the country ruled by terror, worked exactly as Gardener of Human Happiness wanted. So there is spring of 1940. Meantime Russia signed cordial pact with Hitler, invaded Poland, Finland, in few months anected Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and part of Romania. But why i am writing all of this... In this movie like in mind of comrade Stalin and in questions of interrogators the country is full of traitors, agents, insurgents and bandits. In fact, almost nothing from this movie did not take place in this journey. Soviet Union was Terra Incognita for enemy inteligence. Germans met T-34 and other soviet tanks when they started kicking them like a mad horse. So... The movie. Few lines from technical history of russian weapon and a not bad movie for young people, which want to believe that "history" of their country was great. Sounds familiar?

Fairy tale

[harryplinkett14 · 1/10 · 6 March 2019]

The obsession with WWII in Russia and the stupendous quantities of war films and tv series that are in constant production, as if pumped out by some giant WWII factory in the Urals, has led to a trend of turning WWII narratives into fairy tales. The truth is not the object. At least, not in the sense of being factual. The 'truth' these films care about is that of Russian greatness, of Russian ingenuity, of Russian resilience and spirit of defiance, of Russian eternal role of defending herself, and the rest of the world from evil. In pursuit of depicting these truths, facts are not allowed to stand in the way. Narratives in these films seem as though they come from some ancient book of myths, and not from history books. Alas, one can only endure this kind f manipulation for so long. I am fed up with Russian myths. And frankly, I am beginning to wonder how many people in Russia are fed up, too.

Approach this movie with an open mind.... and you will actually enjoy it

[bmynars · 7/10 · 20 December 2020]

I am not sure why some of the reviewers gave it 1 star and were bashing it. I think they and I were watching two different movies. Some points to make: 1. The movie is based on a historical event documented in Russian archives. So, there goes a "fairy tale" title of one of the reviews. 2. Even if a movie tries to adhere to known facts, some "artistic" freedom is given so it is entertaining. In my opinion, it was very well balanced and was enjoyable to watch. 3. It shows shortcomings of a centrally managed economy (top down) where bureaucrats ALWAYS stand in the way of progress and human nature ALWAYS finds a way to work around it.

I enjoyed this movie and if you give it a chance, you will too.

Highly enjoyable, humourous tosh

[Beakyboy · 8/10 · 18 June 2020]

Drive two new, secret T34s a 1000km for Stalin's parade. Avoid the guerrillas, Nazis, saboteurs and goodness who else. You soon get used to reading the subtitles - which let's face it, are hardly the highest prose.

An entertaining film along the lines of a cowboy flick, if Clint, Arnie or their like were starring it would get a lot more attention. I can't think why I won't give it ten stars except it is light entertainment even if it isn't meant to be.

A Gem

[captainpat · 9/10 · 31 August 2022]

Thankfully I did not let the low rating on IMDB sway me. I thoroughly enjoyed this film on Amazon Prime - the story kept me watching. With most films today I stop viewing half way through. Tanks for Stalin presented great storytelling, acting and directing. Why this film has been swamped with low ratings has me bewildered. I hope more films, that tell a unique and entertaining story keep coming - Tanks for Stalin does that. Thank you to the director, Kim Druzhinin, and writer, Nazarov Andrey, for a job well done.

This film presents a fictionalized account of the cross country field test of the T-34 Soviet tank.