Charlie “Charlie H” Hold

This film has an integrity and realism that makes for an incredible cinematic experience. Even the rewriting - for storytelling 'licence' - of Victor Perez's final days for cinematic effect is a forgiven! He actually died on a death March from Auschwitz westwards via another death camp where he found some bread for his fellow starving marchers. Whilst distributing it to fellow victims he was shot dead. And he didn't find his brother either, in Auschwitz! Nor did he persuade him to run into a forest to ensure he kept his sports pursuits alive for posterity! But apart from this ("well what did the Romans do for us, apart from.....") a very watchable and credible interpretation of the human condition. In addition, as a cinematic experience, with the believable atmospheric filming and the amazing 'ageing' of 'Victor Perez' - it's an entirely engrossing film worthy of the film corpus. However..... to fully pay homage to the principle character of the film - and respect his sacrifice and honour - you owe it to him to look him up at Yad Vashim for his full true contribution to humanity, at a dark time in our evolution. Yes! Really!

A very credible film of the turning-point in WWII - where Hitler showed his true (dis)regard for the human race - and his own soldiers. The containment by the Russians of the Germans (including the Romanians and Hungarians) is depicted here as the sub-zero temperatures, lack of food and other supplies - as well as the sense of entrapment - coalesce to depict the breakdown and disintegration of human nature in conflict. Well who can say it wasn't like this? A very very vivid portrayal of war. I know of no other portrayal of an episode in war that matches this. Well done.