First Squad: The Moment of Truth (2009)

Rarely have I been so disappointed with a movie. There is so many terrible, terrible things that it's hard where to begin. Spoilers ahead.First of all, the movie is constantly interrupted by so-called historians or veterans to divulge some documentary about the war, the occult research going on and so on, to give a sense of truth to the movie. Except, they ruin what little pacing the animation has itself, making the movie drag for so long pointlessly. Some action scenes are interrupted by these same interventions, and ultimately serve little to no purpose.The main story involve Nadya, who is the only character who is remotely developed in the whole movie. But even that is a joke. She is an amnesiac (wow, so original) who is a member of the titular squad, and happens to be rescued by a monk who tells her she needs to stop evil Nazis from raising a dead knight. But the story does not flow - it's an briefing, the character plainly and boringly explains what Nadya must do. Then he is ambushed by what seems to be She-Wolves of the SS, and after a mildly spectacular fight (why the old man can even lift his cane is anyone's wonder), apparently dies.Then Nadya is sent back into the underworld to find the spirits of her friends, to bring them back and to fight the evil Nazi undead knight. She is captured by zombies, who apparently take prisoner in this movie, and sent to a butcher undead wearing a pig's mask. After a miracle rescue, she is brought back to the living world where she meets again the old man for no real purpose. They expose some nonsense about moment of truth, then she summons her friend through sheer force of will and a boring fight ensues. In the end, the knight escapes, the Nazis who summoned him are still there, and her friend disappear without any conclusion. The movie does not end, simply.Not only does the story make absolutely no sense, but the characterization is even worse than the worse Hollywoodian summer thrash. Voice actors have absolutely no emotions, and simply read their script. Subtitles did not always match the voice, the animation used a lot of stills for a movie, and the constant interruption of experts ruins the little fun you can have from this movie. There is nothing intellectual, either, as nothing is explored in any manner of depth. Words spoken only carry air, the historical facts are probably ripped off Wikipedia and there is no feel of urgency in the war. Even the horrors of warfare came up lifeless. There is no soul nor emotion in any part of this movie, and aside from two weak tentative, there is nothing even funny.I give 2 stars for the action scenes, which are not completely worthless, and the character design, which is great. In some moments, the animation can also be amazing, at times, for instance the knight and the final fight are well done. Avoid at all cost, unless you're really into WWII and the Russian side of the story, but even that is awfully thin. If the whole length of the movie had been devoted to the actual story instead of the interventions, it might have been awesome. Sadly, it proves the line between awesome and awful is thin indeed.

It is a true masterpiece. But not for mainstream hamburger eaters. The great story. The movie addresses history and a lot of Soviet era archetypes, as well as spiritual side of life. It makes the film interesting for any nation. A lot of people in Soviet Union was up-brought on the idea of spiritual strength of Motherland defenders and readiness to sacrifice own life defending Motherland. This makes them comparable to Japanese fighters. All of them were taught that the spirit of people is winning wars, not tanks or bombs. That's one of the ideas of the film as I see it. Though there are disputes now under way were Soviets good or bad guys in WWII, some facts are indisputable. 1) A most of German nation was brainwashed and declared themselves supermen. A lot of ideological, manipulative and even occult methods were applied to do it.2) The Soviet people faced a prospect of slavery and holocaust from Nazis. Though Soviet government was also very aggressive and did a lot to kill and convict a lot of Soviets as well, poor soviet people had no choice but fight for the survival. The survival of Motherland (even so cruel to own citizens), people, and family, culture and history, but not personal survival only. The chance to survive was minimal, but the spirit was very strong. The own live was something many of these people were ready to sacrifice for victory. It was mass heroism, and not fanaticism. Most of them were just usual people, not samurais or specially trained professionals. The wave of the people outrage towards Nazis was tremendous. Majority of fighters (unlike modern Islam kamikaze) did not believe in Heavens and rewards after life or heroic death, they knew that there were almost no chance to stay alive, they wanted victory and were ready to pay for it. And if after death they had a chance to fight, most of them were happy to do it. So many times Nazis were about to win, but something helped Russians again and again. E.g. Nazies were stopped in the Moscow suburbs with almost no Russian troops behind them. There were some other critical moments in this war when every little thing could play a main role in human history. If either Moscow or Stalingrad were captured, or in Battle of Kursk soviets were defeated WWII could be won by Nazis, US and UK alone without Soviets would never win the war, because Soviets paid the bloodiest price for the victory over the Nazis and were decisive power. So such moments are very interesting points of the history and issues in human psychology. The moments when the border between life and death is so illusive. I think that film creators by the artistic means succeeded to give a very interesting interpretation of such moments. So the film is a great and intellectual entertainment, it is much much better then thousands of other animated works. Great job guys! Thank you!

I've just watched this movie which has been widely advertised as the first Russian anime. Why there should be a Russian anime if we already have a great animation legacy of our own is another question. There're just too many things wrong with this movie apart from being a "Russian anime".And first and foremost, it's an insult to Russian history and the Sacred War. I bet people would be speaking about it a lot... What makes it worse are the occasional comments from the "experts": historians, psychiatrists and war veterans, only the latter being the real people, everyone else being portrayed by the actors. They try their best to make the movie's story seem based on real events. Some people would take it as fiction and some, mainly the young audience, may take it as truth, which is quite worrying. And I really pity people of the war generation, our grandfathers and grandmothers who has seen the Great War with their own eyes and who might watch Firs Squad one day. Even if the Russians are behind the movie, the Soviet Union of the 40th is portrayed like in an average Hollywood movie. Excluding probably such clichés as drinking vodka... The story of is quite linear, simplistic and full of plot holes and plot devices. In a nutshell, a Russian girl Nadya who possesses supernatural psychic powers must team up with her dead friends to stop the undead Teutonic knights from changing the course of history. This is all there is, nothing more, nothing less. This movie has an unbelievable amount of deus ex machina and other devices, including:SPOILER ALERT!!!-during Nazi bombing Nadya is saved by a monk who for some reason happens to hang around the battlefield. This monk never introduces himself, but is so well aware of girl's quest that he gives her further instructions and even a horse which takes her directly to Moscow. The monk pointlessly sacrifices himself to protect escaping Nadya. -in order to resurrect the evil knights Ahnenerbe needs a powerful artefact which just happens to be in one of the member's possession.-Soviets, in return, need to somehow send Nadya to the world of the dead. An appropriate machine just happens to be waiting in the basement of the Kremlin. (Why they need a machine of such kind apart from using it in Nadya's mission is another question). -when in the other world Nadya is captured by the evil knights. Their leader recognizes her as a simple "mortal"(using his Predator-like vision mode) and sends her to the butcher. What? A random monk knows that this girl is so special and a mighty undead knight doesn't even question how she's got to the world of the dead in the first place? -of course, Nadya is saved by her dead friends who arrive just at the right time to a well-guarded knights'castle. -upon her return to our world Nadya sees that the monk who presumably died is alive and well. He's there only to share a couple more words of wisdom. Pffff... -during the final battle as the dark knights erupt from under the ice of the frozen lake Nadya's friends find a way to get into our world and save the day(of course!).(By the way, one of the veterans says that they were facing Nazis on the ice of the lake and were fighting for every trench. Is it possible to make trenches in the lake?)SPOILER ENDThe characters are as uninteresting as the story. The main heroine seems quite apathetic in what she's doing. It's not that she's passionately fighting for the Motherland, no, she just follows other people's orders, that's all. They tried to give her some depth trough a series of flashbacks, but they are not touching at all. I think that I didn't care at all for this character or her mission. Her friends have below zero personality. There is: love interest, funny guy... and two other kids, but it's hard to determine their roles, probably a tough guy and a tough gal. I don't even know why they're needed in this movie(except for deus-ex-machina-saving-the-day purpose). Their relationship with the main character is quite blank. They were good friends... So? Secondary characters and villains are even worse. I'm not into anime at all and to my eye animation and visuals were quite average. Nothing stylish, stunning or breathtaking. In conclusion, First Squad is a quite tasteless mix of Japanese sword fights, undead Pioneers, demonic knights with the Great Patriotic War on the background, with simplistic story and one-dimensional characters. I probably would have said, "Hey, if you're not gonna take it seriously and if you have a good sense of humor, go see First Squad!", if it wasn't such a painful topic involved. Our Scared War, the Great Patriotic War, is no laughing matter. And if people who has made this anime don't understand this... well, I pity them.I'll give First Squad two stars just for the animators' effort.

Well, I saw it just a few hours ago and must admit it was good - not great, not a masterpiece, but still well made story. Although I'm not a die-hard anime fan, this one looks interesting. Storyline revolves around a battle between secret Nazi and Soviet organizations which uses supernatural powers to win the war on Eastern front. Germans summon the spirit of an evil Teutonic knight and his minons, so the Soviets try to stop them with help of The First Squad - a group of teenagers with paranormal abilities. As for me, it sounds promising. Besides, story got a nice style anyway. If you're want to see some unusual story about the WWII, you gotta see that one.