

User Score
17 votes
“IT'S SENSATIONAL!”
A Soviet documentary chronicling the Battle of Moscow (October 1941 – January 1942), when Red Army forces repelled the German advance on the capital. Shot by numerous frontline cameramen, it combines harrowing footage of combat and civilian suffering with scenes of Nazi atrocities, framed against themes of Russian heroism and cultural survival. Originally released under the title Defeat of the German Armies Near Moscow, the English-language version, narrated by Edward G. Robinson, was retitled Moscow Strikes Back. The film won the 1943 Academy Award for Best Documentary. Warning: contains graphic images.
Status
Released
Original Language
RU

Romm pulls out all the stops in its selection of documentary material to draw the viewer not only into absolute horror about fascism and nazism in the 1920s–1940s Europe, but also to a firm conviction that nothing of the sort should be allowed to happen again anywhere in the world.

Amid the failing counteroffensive, a journalist follows a Ukrainian platoon on their mission to traverse one mile of heavily fortified forest and liberate a strategic village from Russian occupation. But the farther they advance through their destroyed homeland, the more they realize that this war may never end.