Berenshtein movie review

MOVIE TITLE: Berenshtein

This WWII movie is now available on Amazon.

RATING: R

LENGTH: 1 hour 30 minutes

MOVIE REVIEW MOM GRADE: B

IN A NUTSHELL:

Based on a true story, the film is about Leonid Berenshtein, one the last of the great partisans, who located Hitler’s “wonder weapon.” He returns to the war that took away his feelings and identity, yet failed to rob him of his values as a human being.

The film was directed by Roman Shumunov. The writers were Simon Schecter, Tasha Karlyuka, and Vyacheslav Tkachov.

Already, it has been nominated for “Best Sound” at the Israeli Film Academy, “Best Feature” at the Israeli Film Festival in Montreal, and at the Stony Brook Film Festival.

At the end of the movie, we read these words on the screen: “Dedicated to the soldiers and partisans of WWII who saved humanity from its greatest threat.”

THINGS I LIKED:

We get to see photos of the real Leonid Berenshtein at the end of the film. Sadly, he passed away in 2019, shortly before this movie was made. What a gift that his descendants will get to learn about all of the brave things he did to fight against the Nazi army.
I wasn’t familiar with any of the European actors. They all did a fine job.
I watched the film dubbed in English.
One of the voice talents sounded like Liam Neeson at the beginning of the movie. Unfortunately, it wasn’t him.
The first battle scene we see is near Kiev, Ukraine. We see title cards that identify other areas of Ukraine and Poland where the soldiers fought.
Before the final rolling credits, we get to see pictures of the real people in the story and learn about what happened to them after the war.
The explosions and destruction looked pretty real.
The overall feeling of the movie is sobering, yet hopeful. It’s truly amazing to see what people did to sacrifice in order to save others and their country during World War II.
The movie made me want to learn more about the Partisans who fought to protect their homeland.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

The blood and wounds look pretty fake.
It would have been nice to get to know more about the characters.
I like it when war movies show maps so we can better understand where the events take place. Unfortunately, we don’t see much of that in this film.
Some of the voice acting in the dubbed American version wasn’t very good.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

We see blood and gore
Lots of war violence with various weapons
High dead-body count
We see brutal deaths
Kids will be bored or frightened or both.

THEMES:

Courage
War
Hope
Judaism
Freedom
Patriotism
Sacrifice

INTERESTING LINES:

“Joining a Partisan camp is an act of bravery.” – Piotr Dubovoy (Ygor Surkov)
“A Partisan warrior is a master of the forest.” – Piotr Dubovoy (Ygor Surkov)
“The tree is crying.” – Marina (Lilya Ostapovich)
“A free man chooses for himself how he will live and how he will die.” – Leonid Berenshtein (Yaroslav Kucherenko)