According to official Soviet statistics, Liberation sold more than 400 million tickets worldwide. When hearing about the German proposal regarding Yakov, Stalin rejects it, saying he will not trade a Field Marshal for a soldier. Eventually, General Sergei Shtemenko took the role. East German actor Fritz Diez was reluctant to portray Hitler. He demanded Ozerov would replace him with someone else, complaining the actor was constantly bothering him with questions. Therefore, a special set was constructed in the vicinity of Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi where art director Alexander Myaghkov was free to use live explosives. This movie is well worth watching because it is easy to follow, easy to read and view at the same time, and if you are into WWII history as I am, you will enjoy the feel the historical accuracy will give. 4.0 out of 5 stars Liberation (The)/ Osvobozhdeniye - Russian Soundtrack Only (1971) Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2009 Everything the reviewers have written is true; this is a truly epic WW2 film. Here was the largest tank battle in the history of World War II. In this the fourth episode, “Battle of Berlin,” the Soviets start their assault on Berlin and Stalin negotiates with the other Allies. "Liberation" is easy to watch. Login. ... See full summary ». He had already appeared as such in three other films and feared becoming "a slave to one role". [13], Filming also took place in Poland. The Soviets and the Poles storm the Tiergarten. Churchill is pleased to hear of this, fearing a peace would leave Europe to Stalin. He noted that Roosevelt and Churchill are depicted as "paper tigers" who are keen to reach a settlement with Hitler; in the Battle of Berlin, Stalin informs both that he knows of the covert Dulles-Wolff dealings when they assemble in the Yalta Conference, a month before the actual negotiations took place; in reality, the Soviets were notified about them beforehand. Karl Wolff is sent to negotiate with the Americans. Olyalin had received several offers to appear in other films, but the theater managers dispersed of them, fearing he would leave them. All the specified details appear in the films' credits. Title: In Yalta, Stalin notifies Churchill and Roosevelt that he knows of their secret dealings with the enemy. [29] 56.1 million people watched the first, of which 56 million returned after the intermission for the second. Even so, his strong voice in favour of Bangladesh's liberation helped garner huge international support for Bangladesh. Karl Wolff is sent to negotiate with the Americans. In Berlin, Lieutenant Yartsev's infantry and Tzvetaev's battery fight their way in the U-Bahn. Stalin orders to hasten the Vistula-Oder offensive in order to relieve the Allies. [2] After Nekrasov's and Simonov's refusal, Yuri Bondarev and Oscar Kurganov were tasked with writing the script. View production, box office, & company info. Outside the Reichstag, Vasiliev, Orlov, Yartsev, and an immense crowd of Red Army soldiers celebrate victory. Plus, this is a Division-sized movie reflecting the time it was made. [28], Direction of the Main Blow, distributed in 1,476 prints, had 35.8 million viewers,[30] making it to the third place on the 1971 box office. Abar Tora Manush Ho (1973) Suffering in Nazi captivity, he dreams of meeting his darlings after the victory. The series was a Soviet-Polish-East German-Italian-Yugoslav co-production. Erich von Manstein commits all his forces to a final assault, bringing the Soviets close to defeat. [1][12], At first, two prominent authors, Konstantin Simonov and Viktor Nekrasov, were offered to write the script. A daring English reporter speaks to an old freedom fighter, who reveals his past and involvement during the 1971 Bangladesh liberation struggle. Bir Bikrom (Bengali: বীর বিক্রম Valiant hero); A total of 175 fighters have been awarded on 15 December 1973 for their heroic actions at the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971. He claimed he was sick and then boarded a plane to Moscow. Fearing this style would discourage viewers, it was decided to combine fictional characters into the plot. [47] Liberation presented Stalin as the Supreme Commander, his first major appearance on screen since the Secret Speech[48] – a token to the Brezhnev Era softer view of him,[2][12] Still, his character did not occupy a central role as it had done in the films produced during his reign. LOTS OF PICTURES. [41] Der Spiegel lauded Ozerov for portraying the German side "with due consideration" for details. [12], The series was distributed in 115 countries around the world. Lukin's regiment crosses it, presumably as the division's vanguard; unbeknownst to them, they are merely a ploy to mislead the enemy. [2], A year after the Last Assault was released, David Robinson called Liberation a "hollow, spectacular, monumental display. LIBERATION definitely qualifies. Captain Neustroev's company is selected to hoist the Victory Banner atop the Reichstag. [7] Denise J. Youngblood described Liberation as the "Brezhnev era's canonical war film", writing that it was "clearly designed to buttress the war cult. The list of movies based on the 1971 liberation war in Bangladesh has been mentioned here. Where the Producers got an accurately speaking Roosevelt (Stanislav Yaskevich)& Churchill (Yury Durov), I don't know. Two friends-both officers-are in love with the same woman. In Poland, Zawadzki and Berling watch the Bug River as the Polish 1st Army crosses it, saying they are happy to return home. Liberation: The Last Assault (1971) 12 11/05/1971 (RU) War, Drama 1h 15m User Score. [10][11] Lazar Lazarev, a member of the Soviet Filmmakers' Association, wrote "Liberation ...was forced down from above, from the Ideological Departments". Dorozhkin is assigned to them as a radio operator. [31] Finally, the two concluding films, The Battle of Berlin and The Last Assault were released together in 1,341 prints. [9] Polish author Łukasz Jasina commented that the Bug River is spoken of as the Polish border already during 1944 – although the USSR annexed the eastern territories of Poland only after the war. But cruel fate turned out otherwise. [41], Soviet critic Rostislav Yurenev "praised the meticulously recreated battle scenes". You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. [1], In the 1960s, both the Soviet government and military command were dismayed and disgruntled by several Western films about World War II which made no reference to the Red Army's participation in it, most prominently The Longest Day, though in 1967 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was planning an American-Russian international co-production of Cornelius Ryan's The Last Battle about the fall of Berlin. The Stavka decides to strike in Belarus. [40] Lisa A. Kirshenbaum assessed that in comparison to more sincere Great Patriotic War films, like The Ascent or The Cranes Are Flying, the "heroic, if not kitschy" Liberation conformed to the "Cult of the Great Patriotic War". [52] Liberation presents the civilian population in Berlin welcoming the Red Army; German author Jörg von Mettke wrote the scene in which the German women flirt with the soldiers "might have happened, but it was mostly otherwise."[53]. I've seen a crap-ton of WW2 movies and mini-series over the years -- American, Canadian, British, Italian, German, Japanese, and even one Russian one (THE HOT SNOW). [42] Karl-Heinz Janßen from Die Zeit wrote that Liberation was a "colossal film series... A cenotaph of celluloid. Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, imminent German offensive in Kursk, they launch a preemptive artillery strike, The Soviet counter-offensive is launched in Kursk, tries to assassinate Hitler and take power, Przedsiębiorstwo Realizacji Filmów-Zespoły Filmowe, "Die Schlacht um Berlin im sowjetischen Monumentalepos, "Przedsiębiorstwo Realizacji Filmów Zespoły Filmowe", "The Fetters of Victory: How the War Provides Russia With Its Identity", A 2005 television interview with Dilara Ozerova, A 2011 television interview with Dilara Ozerova, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Liberation_(film_series)&oldid=999793583, Films about the Soviet Union in the Stalin era, Articles with dead external links from February 2020, Articles with permanently dead external links, Articles containing Russian-language text, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Russian, German, English, Polish, Italian, French, Serbo-Croatian, This page was last edited on 12 January 2021, at 00:19. [20] Ivan Konev was irritated by Yuri Leghkov, who depicted him in the first two parts. After concluding that the Belarus marshes are passable, Rokossovsky demands that the main effort be directed towards Bobruisk and insists until Stalin approves. Beside those, many T-55s, T-62s and IS-3s – models that were developed after the war – can be clearly seen in the film, painted as German or Soviet tanks. [15], For the character of Tzvetaev, Ozerov chose the young Nikolay Olyalin, an actor of the Krasnoyarsk Children Theater. ... Can't find a movie or TV show? [8] German author Christoph Dieckmann wrote that "Despite of all the propaganda, Liberation is an anti-war film, a memento mori to the uncountable lives sacrificed for victory. However, Zhukov had little political influence at the time, and the establishment did not approve of him. The script was written by Yuri Bondarev and Oscar Kurganov. Overview. Stalin orders to hasten the Vistula-Oder offensive in order to relieve the Allies. The Victory Banner is unfurled on the dome. "[8], The work on the series commenced in 1966. Published in 1971 by Shochiku, Japan. This five part WW2 epic drama gives a dramatized detailed account of the five major eastern front Soviet campaigns against Nazi Germany. Jones is a 1970 American neo noir crime film directed by William Wyler, his final project in a career that spanned 45 years. Get a sneak peek of the new version of this page. [17], Ozerov asked Marshal Georgy Zhukov to be the films' chief military consultant. She attributed this, partially, to the "grandiose scale" of the films, which made it hard to maintain the interest of the audience. [9] The director was also closely supervised – the series had to meet the approval of General Alexei Yepishev, the Chief of the Armed Forces' Political Directorate,[2] as well as that of Mikhail Suslov. [10] Yakov Dzhugashvili's daughter, Galina, claimed that the phrase "I will not trade a Field Marshal for a soldier", that is strongly associated with Yakov's story,[10] was never uttered by her grandfather and is "just a quote from Liberation". p open profile menu. They decided to commission "a monumental epic" which would demonstrate the importance of the Soviet role in the war. Operation Bagration is launched. 1h 10min | Documentary, Biography | 4 November 1971 (USA) Photographed by an all-female crew and directed by the author of Sexual Politics, these are autobiographical interiews with three very different women who talk frankly about their lives, conflicts, and contrasting life styles. Bondarev wrote the live action scenes; Kurganov was responsible for the historical parts, featuring the leaders and generals. The Red Army reaches the Dnieper. The Soviet counter-offensive is launched in Kursk. On Stalin's orders, the Soviet High Command plans its offensive on Kiev, stealthily redeploying their forces. Indoor fighting was filmed in Mosfilm's studios, and the U-Bahn scene took place in Moscow's metro – where Myaghkov rebuilt the Kaiserhof station.[1][13]. [37] The series was submitted by the Soviet Union as a candidate for the Best Foreign Language Film in the 46th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee. The hoisting of the Victory Banner was shot atop the Haus der Technik in the Wilhelmstraße. The producers searched in vain for real Tiger I and Panther tanks: eventually, replicas of 10 Tigers and 8 Panthers (converted from T-44 and IS-2 tanks respectively) were manufactured in a Soviet tank factory in Lvov. The Berlin garrison surrenders unconditionally. A more important pre-release viewing had to be held for Defense Minister Andrei Grechko and Yepishev. The Russian high command unleashes an operation to protect the Mishkova ... See full summary », To the young lieutenant Maleshkin the war is a minor obstacle, if compared to his personal battle to command his subordinates, while conducting an armored vehicle at the same time he's ... See full summary », In July 1942, in the Second World War, the rearguard of the Red army protects the bridgehead of the Don River against the German army while the retreating soviet troops cross the bridge. The Japanese booklet of LIBERATION (Russian title: Освобождение) Part 1 & 2. During the 1970s, due in part to détente, Cold War rhetoric in films calmed down, but was still present indirectly. Osvobozhdenie: Bitva za Berlin ( 1971) Osvobozhdenie: Bitva za Berlin. There have many heart touching films has been made based on the war that helps the future generations to know more about the history. The films are a dramatized account of the liberation of the Soviet Union's territory and the subsequent defeat of Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War, focusing on five major Eastern Front campaigns: the Battle of Kursk, the Lower Dnieper Offensive, Operation Bagration, the Vistula–Oder Offensive, and the Battle of Berlin. He told interviewer Victor Matizen that the "State Secretary for Cinematography almost had a seizure when he found out. A five part WW2 epic drama that gives a dramatized detailed account of Soviet Union's war against Nazi Germany from 1943 to 1945.Each of the five parts represents a separate major eastern front campaign.The first part deals with the 1943 great tank Battle of Kursk.The second part details the September 1943 Lower Dnieper Offensive.The third part depicts the various stages of Operation Bagration during the summer of 1944.The fourth installment of the epic deals with the January 1945 Vistula-Oder Offensive and the final segment climaxes in the April-May 1945 Battle of Berlin. 1h 26min | Drama, History, Romance | October 1972 (Poland) Stalin orders to hasten the Vistula-Oder offensive in order to relieve the Allies. Sign Up. [28] Richard Stites reported that the Communist Party instructed all its members to purchase tickets. The film is dedicated to some fighting events that took place in the USSR after Hitler's conquest of western Europe. [19], A major obstacle facing the producers was that most of the Soviet leadership took part in the war; Many high-ranking officers and politicians were portrayed in the films with their wartime ranks, and the actors depicting them had to receive the models' blessing. "[9] Denise J. Youngblood called Liberation the "most grandiose Soviet WWII picture". Zespół Filmowy Start, the first Polish studio to participate in the co-production of Liberation, was closed at April 1968. The scene changes during the battles are approximately 6 seconds apart--allowing the audience to experience the whole screen. Liberation (1971) Osvobozhdenie: Napravlenie glavnogo udara (original title) The main point of 'Daag' is that whoever rapes is always a rapist. The Liberation of L.B. Scenes featuring him were edited out from many older pictures. [10][14][15] Vlasov's was an uncredited role, referred to only as "the General" on set. [35], The readers of the journal Sovietsky Ekran, the State Committee for Cinematography's official publication, chose The Direction of the Main Blow as the best film of 1971. Balram Bhadra, a freedom fighter from Manikhar village, said: “On April 30, 1971, the invading forces launched a barbaric attack on innocent villagers of Manikhar in Sadar upazila. The Yugoslav partisans break out of an encirclement. Zhukov rejects Stavka's order to take Berlin, the Soviets and the Poles storm the Tiergarten. Was this review helpful to you? Overview. The year 1971 was the golden year of Indian diplomacy as the Indira Gandhi Government took significant steps in ensuring that the nations … Add the first question. Immediately after the war, propaganda epics like The Fall of Berlin presented it as an heroic, collective effort of the people that was brilliantly led by Stalin. [9][40][41] In an essay on the series, Dr. Lars Karl wrote: "In this context, Liberation held special importance": he regarded it as ushering the Brezhnev Stagnation into Soviet cinema, during which "a new conservatism and sharpened censure molded the cinematic image of the war into conventional patterns. Ozerov asked for their opinion; Grechko answered, "I will not say a word to you!" After his death, the Khrushchev Thaw enabled filmmakers to depict the war as a personal, inglorious experience of the individual participants – with films as Ivan's Childhood or Ballad of a Soldier. [8] Yet still, The Fire Bulge/Breakthrough reached the first place at the Soviet box office for 1970. The latter sections were intentionally filmed in black-and-white, to resemble old footage. [54] Yakov Dzhugashvili's appearance in The Fire Bulge was anachronistic: he is depicted meeting General Vlasov on 5 July 1943. Osvobozhdenie, German: Befreiung, Polish: Wyzwolenie) is a film series released in 1970 and 1971, directed by Yuri Ozerov and shot in wide-format NIKFI process (70 mm). In spite of this, Ozerov consulted with Zhukov unofficially, and the Marshal provided him with the draft of his memoirs.