They Fought For Their Motherland (1975) DVD

Nominated for the prestigious Palme d'Or at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival, They Fought For Their Motherland is set in July 1942, as the exhausted Soviet troops begins its retreat toward Stalingrad while desperately attempting to hold their ground against the rampaging German war machine. The film concentrates on the remnants of one shattered Soviet regiment and its individual soldiers' thoughts and fears in the face of impending annihilation, not only of themselves but of Mother Russia too. The film's powerful depictions of war and destruction effectively bring home the inhumanity and waste wrought by evil endeavours and provide a moving insight into the personal predicaments of the individual characters forced to participate in a frantic fight for survival.