AMD 4

For this AMD I watched the German film "Stalingrad" by director Joseph Vilsmaier. I was looking for something similar to Das Boot, and while it's hard to live up Wolfgang Peterson's submarine epic, Stalingrad is a very compelling WWII film from the German perspective. As the title suggests, the film concerns a group of German soldiers on the Eastern Front that are eventually involved in the battle of Stalingrad. It convincingly portrays the hardships soldiers on the Eastern Front faced, constantly plagued by food shortages and the bitter Russian cold. It's not a big budget movie, and it didn't have to be. Every part of the production is solid, and the core group of soldiers it follows are all sufficiently acted. The tragic ending (this isn't a spoiler, it's the battle of Stalingrad so it's not like it was going to be a happy ending) is able to deliver a strong emotional punch, and it's not hard to sympathize with the characters that would be considered the "evil Nazis" in other films (despite the fact that Wehrmacht =/= Nazi etc).

I always prefer watching subtitled German films when doing AMDs because I think it really is a great way of reinforcing and learning a language. Often I'll understand 90% of a sentence but I won't be entirely sure if I understood or heard it right, but with subtitles I can immediately confirm what I heard or identify what I did wrong. Other times there will be some significant word surrounded by common words I already know, and I'll be able to pick out and learn the new word. This happens even in languages I have no knowledge of, but it is particularly beneficial when I'm actively trying to learn the featured language. And of course watching movies fun.