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ОСВОБОЖДЕНИЕ
As you may have recalled, I did an entry about a long forgotten war movie made by the Soviet Union in 1968. The Movie was titled The Great Battle and was internationally released by Columbia Pictures in 1971 and dubbed in English. What is possibly the most shameful is that the English version of this movie may actually be languishing deep inside the bowels of the studio’s archive vault to this very day. This is a model example of Hollywood on dumb mode. There is a lot more to be said about this movie.
The movie was actually part of a Soviet mini-series titled Osvobozhdenie about World War Two in the Soviet Union, from the battle at Kursk to the Fall of Berlin. The mini-series was divided into five parts that was about two hours long each. The first part focused on the battle at Kursk itself. Parts two to three would focus on the battles that followed towards Poland and would depict such events like the meeting of Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill in Tehran, the Yalta conference, and the assassination attempt of Hitler. Parts four to five would focus on the Battle in Berlin and would include the death of Hitler. The end of part five would show all the Soviet soldiers cheering and celebrating around the Reichstag and half the screen/scene would show actual footages of the Soviets celebrating their victory over Hitler in black and white.
What may be the most interesting is how this production ever got to cast people that spoke perfect English. Among the good examples were the actors that portrayed Roosevelt and Churchill. The reason I even say this is because the diplomatic relations between the U.S.S.R. and the west (including the U.S.) was not as open as it is today, following the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1991. Interestingly enough and in one particular scene, President Roosevelt is shown disembarking from an American B-29 bomber that was actually a Soviet copy built by Tupolev Aircraft.
Without question, this was the most elaborate epic about World War Two. Even the best war movies from Hollywood and the British film industry could not hold a candle to it. This production did not spare any expense. Unlike the Soviet 1949 movie The Fall of Berlin, this epic gave a less jingoistic and a more honest portrayal of the Soviets during the war. Luckily for me, I was able to find this rare piece of work in its entirety. Unfortunately, it is in Russian and not dubbed in English.
The most likely nagging question now is that what if someone were to actually try to make a movie recreating the battle at Kursk. Such a movie would likely employ CGI. The only people capable of pulling off such an undertaking would be James Cameron, still fresh from his success in making the 2009 science fiction movie Avatar, and Peter Jackson. Jackson is still fresh from his success of making the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the 2005 remake of King Kong. At this time of writing, Jackson is working on doing a remake of the war movie The Dam Busters. Some people actually question why.
Still, Osvobozhdenie is yet a forgotten chapter in the history of war movies that deserve special mention. Just so you know: The fact that I am even writing about both Osvobozhdenie and the 1949 movie The Fall of Berlin does not make me a pro-Soviet or pro-communist. I thought you should know.
The original 1969 mini-series epic:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%D0%9E%D0%A1%D0%92%D0%9E%D0%91%D0%9E%D0%96%D0%94%D0%95%D0%9D%D0%98%D0%95+%281968-71%29+1&search_type=&aq=f
