Paradox Soldiers

Introduction

War re-enactment is a vastly popular activity these days. Mainly in England it's been the likes of English Civil or medieval war re-enactments that get the headlines but there is a growing popularity to re-staging events from World War II - possibly linked to the fact that this period of history appears to be more popular than any other and is an intrinsic part of History education within our schools. Now, consider this. We were never under the Nazi yoke, although threatened with it briefly, whilst all of mainland Europe and beyond succumbed to occupation by the Germans between 1939 and 1945. There is a tendency to want to celebrate battles that led to defeat for the Nazi forces and re-enactment is one of those time honoured traditions. It's also a little known fact that re-enactment groups are very particular about their uniforms and equipment, and are hired as both extras and consultants for period films or TV series.

The encirclement at Brody is one such battle, taking part in the Ukraine between 14th and 22nd July 1944. Part of a prolonged campaign by Russian commander Marshall Konev, the 1st Ukrainian Front encircled 45,000 German troops of the 8th Army Corps trapping them and then proceeded to take them apart. Cut off and with no sign of reinforcements, some units attempted to break out and succeeded, but many of the encircled German troops succumbed to persisent attacks by the Russian troops. One of the few Nazi units to get away from the encirclement was the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the Galician SS, a volunteer division made up of Ukrainian, Slovak, Czech and Dutch volunteers. Initially entering the campaign with 11,000 troops, only 3,500 managed to escape the Brody encirclement.

Paradox Soldiers, or to give it back its original name My Iz Budushchego 2, is actually a sequel but one not yet available on the Metrodome label. Two Moscovite friends have an interest in war re-enactment, one a Professor in World War II history and the other is a Seeker, someone who specialises in finding artefacts on battlefields, identifying and verying their authenticity. Previously both had been victim of time travel and gone back to 1944 where they encountered a nurse called Nina with whom the Professor was madly in love and wanted to bring back to the future, but apparently was killed heroically trying to rescue a wounded soldier in an artillery barrage. Anyhow, the Seeker finds photographic evidence that Nina actually survived this bombardment and the duo decide to head across to the re-enactment of the encirclement of Brody to see if they can manage to travel back in time again and find her.

What they fail to remember though is the disdain that Ukrainians in general have for Muscovites and therefore end up in a fight at a rock concert staged during the preparation for the weekends activities. One of the Ukrainians is a Professor who believes he's more of a rock star and the other is the spoiled son of a Ukrainian MP who gets whatever he wants, both are wearing Axis uniforms - one of which is SS battledress. Our two Muscovites have identified the remains of an old mansion that was a pivotal part of the huge battle and separate from the main re-enactment group to study it, finding an old German rocket shell. The two Ukrainians have spotted them and sneak up, hoping to scare the bejesus out of them with a home made grenade. Big mistake as it turns out, as the mini explosive sets off the much larger one and transports all four back in time, where they have to learn to overcome their differences if they want to survive and return to the present day.

Thus begins a series of escapades that starts with capture by Ukrainian partisans who are sympathetic to the German cause, then capture by Russian troops and then ultimately the final stand at the ruined mansion against the massed ranks of the Nazi forces. Will they make it back to their time or are they doomed to die in 1944?

Audio

Only a Russian soundtrack in 2.0 Stereo with built-in subtitles, which is good enough but a minor disappointment as most Metrodome titles come with rather impressive 5.1 Surround soundtracks and this would have benefitted from the same treatment. Also, a more contemporary rock based musical soundtrack track rather than the more usual orchestral score, which I think tells you what kind of film this is trying to be.

Overall

It's a little annoying that this film is a sequel with no chance of actually seeing the original first as it got a little confusing to start with, the flashbacks of Nina being an integral part of the story that I really don't want to give away too much. Once you realise this and get past the idea that the main duo have time travelled previously to the same era, then it gets quite enjoyable. It's also quite a nice set up in that the quartet of time traveller's aren't all friends. It appears as if the two Ukrainians are sympathetic to the Nazi cause at first, both being dressed in Nazi uniform and with the obvious links to the Galician SS Division, but this actually aids the story intially. Captured by Ukrainian partisans, the quartet are led to a big ditch in the woods containing Ukrainian civilians sympathetic to the Soviet cause and after our two Muscovites are thrown in with them, the two Ukranians are ordered to shoot them, which they refuse to do - not being cold hearted killers. Despite the massacre of the townsfolk, all four escape thanks to a sudden artillery bombardment and Nazi advance, only to be captured by Soviet troops and, of course, the tables are reversed.

This film is banned in the Ukraine and although I can't find out why, I'm guessing its because of the links with the Galilcian SS and the implication that Ukrainian partisans massacred their own people for siding with the Soviets rather than the Nazi's - both aggressors and both sometimes as vicious as the other. This appears to be quite a serious film at its heart, despite being a sci-fi romp with some humour in it. The storyline over the nurse Nina is handled quite sensitively and some of the humour is quite subtle but works. A prime example is where the protagonists are first captured by Soviet troops and the Professor persuades the Seeker to let him do all the talking as this era is his area of expertise. During the ensuing interrogation and after noting the date on the wall calendar, he provides the interrogating officer with details of who they are pretending to be only for that information to be disproved after a call to headquarters to verify it. The Professor is a little baffled until the interrogating officer notices the wall calendar is incorrect and rips off three days. Doh... It's funnier than it sounds, honest.

Ignoring the humour, mainly as it's quite hard to do it justice in print, the battle scenes are fantastic whether on a smaller or larger scale. There is an element of CGI in the scene where the advancing Nazi's come under aerial bombardment from the Soviet air force, but even that looks pretty good overall. The last stand at the mansion is the best set piece though and is real hand to hand stuff at times. I've already put my admiration for foreign war films in print several times and this is one that can be added to the list, despite it really being a sci-fi genre film. Not an essential watch but an enjoyable one nonetheless...