‘Stalingrad’ to play at IU Cinema

The IU Cinema will screen “Stalingrad,” a 1993 war drama illuminating the gruesome and death-ridden World War II Battle of Stalingrad.

The film is featured as part of the President’s Choice series, a collection of films selected by IU President Michael McRobbie.

“Stalingrad” begins at 7 p.m. and is a free but ticketed event. Tickets are available at the IU Auditorium box office.

Directed by Joseph Vilsmaier, the film follows a platoon of German soldiers that relocated to Russia and rushed into one of the bloodiest wars in history.

Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle said the film, though filled with disturbing images of human destruction, is grimly beautiful.

“Delving into the brutal realities of war with an almost-docudrama style, it renders a bitter, almost choking sense of futility of war through the destruction not only of bodies, but of the human spirit,” Stack said.

John Krewson said in a review for the A.V. Club the film was an accurate depiction of the brutalities of the battle.

“It’s this attention to grotesque detail that makes ‘Stalingrad’ take two and a half hours to tell its story, but not one minute is wasted,” Krewson said.  

— Olivia Williams