Stalingrad

The most frightfully captivating aspect of this film is the lack of embellishments. There is no romance, no plot twists, no wartime antagonism between soldiers of different sides, no blind patriotism, no insipid and callous heroism, no happiness, no joy, nothing at all. Because this is what war was like - walking into the unknown, equipped with the harsh instinct of self-preservation, armed with fear and human weakness, and embracing the abyss. They stare at the abyss. The abyss stares back.

The fantastic thing about this movie is that there is no real story. It just follows the horrible fate of a group of Wehrmacht veterans lead by a new lieutenant. No heroic crap, no patriotism, no happy endings or retarded twists. Simple and pure depiction of life in the Stalingrad-kessel. Not 100% historically accurate but good enough.

Likely, this is the greatest World War 2 movie told from a German perspective, but it's an astonishingly small club to be in. It's also rare to see depiction of war where soldiers are hopeless and desperate and willing to do anything it takes to survive, for these aspects it has great value, but in technical aspects and in story, there have been better movies.

For it's tiny failings, it's singular as firstly a German WW2 movie, and secondly for lacking any kind of jingoism or glory. The film's strongpoint IMO is how long it spends on the soldiers simply trying to get away from battle, and the slow gradual descent into madness.

My favorite WWII movie. No superheroes, no pathos, just interesting characters struggling for survival.