Product Description

Created by the same studio that produced "Come and See", The Star is an action packed war adventure that has been favourably compared with recent Hollywood depictions of war and inhumanity. Set during the end of the Second World War, on the Polish front separating the Russian and German armies, The Star is the call sign for a Russian scout unit being sent behind enemy lines to spy on troop movements in the knowledge that two such units have already been despatched and vanished without trace. Almost from the start the film is charged with tension as the scouts use their tracking skills to avoid detection and their killing prowess to exterminate obstacles in their way, leading to an almost unbearable climax.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2193 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-02-05
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Formats: Dolby, PAL
• Original language: Russian
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 97 minutes

Customer Reviews

A good, solid action film.
,The Star' is the heroic tale of a Soviet recon mission behind enemy lines during WW2. It is also my favourite Russian film. It's a solid, story-driven war film that literally "sticks to its guns" and doesn't lapse or morph into the ubiquitous Russian arthouse style that seems to permeate the genre. It wants to be, and is, an action film with convincing characters and a strong plot and it's nice to watch a "good old-fashioned" war film, that does what it says on the tin, without depressing morality messages or ultra-violent shock-tactics. We all know by now that war is hell - Let's just enjoy the movie.

A solid propaganda like war movie
Good war scenes, remembering The Iron Cross, but a little out to date point of view after Prestrojika. Perhaps correct title may be The RED Star

A view from the Eastern Front
This is a solid, if not quite spectacular war themed effort from Russia, focusing on the efforts of a young recon squad, infiltrating the German lines to send back information on troop concentrations. Unfortunately we don't get many Russian war films seeing English release, which is a shame as there is an important story to be told, one which many English speaking folk are not familiar with, and as far as we know America won the war on their own! This film obviously had a decent budget, the attack on the train station is replete with big bangs and fireworks, and the final set piece is intense. The acting is solid, the script not too bad (well, the subtitles at least, my knowledge of Russian is neglible), but it does feel quite old fashioned in places, some of the direction and cuts will raise an eyebrow (the up close, on rails, third person view of a death scene of one brave soldier is bizarre to say the least), and one shot that very swiftly goes zoom - cut - zoom - cut - zoom each to a dramatic musical note is like something out of the 50s, but hey. The film works, and the ending is suitably Russian and resolutely un-Hollywood. At 90 minutes, it doesn't outstay it's welcome, and if you enjoy the genre and are interested in a Russian action movie take on WWII, then you should check this out.