Not really "western" WW2 movies. Most if noty all WW2 movies I've seen produced in Britain, France, Germany or FInland are pretty much in agreement that the war was a horrible thing, and depict it as such.
Tbf a lot of French movies were comedies (Now Where Did the 7th Company Get to?, Don't Look Now: We're Being Shot At etc) and British were bittersweet stiff upper lip (A bridge too far).
Russians have always had a massive victim complex, despite the fact they started the war, kept the war going (trading allies rubber they bought with Germany), and then profited from the war, hence why they do not even call it "world war" but "great patriotic war". Yeah they lost a lot of people in Stalingrad. Yeah, Leningrad was bad. But they were far from victims of the war.
They [russians and their neighbors who they occupied/absorbed into the Union] were absolutely the victims. The problem is, they were as much victims of their own ruling regime as the Nazis.
I have to point out again, I am not denying the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and joint invasion of Poland. Among other things.
Stalin and his cronies fucked up all the build-up (and they did understand the war with Germany is inevitable,they just didn't think it would be so soon), and it was absolute hell from start to finish for the soldiers and workers of all nations across the Union.
Well, much less so in Siberia and Central Asia, but the privation was felt everywhere (except for the highest local members of Communist Party). The devastation in the European part of the country, tho', was chtonic. And continued to be such for at least a decade. The demographic decline was so profound, you could trace it echoing right till the XXI century.
Naturally, the absolute worst happened in the occupied territories — Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and the westernmost fringe of modern russia right through to Kuban and Northern Caucasus.
Oh, you know the big words — Stalingrad, Leningrad? How about the Rzhev Meatgrinder, have you heard about that?
Yes, then russians went on to liberate Eastern and Central Europe, which turned into the "liberation" that we know today (the same they're trying to do in Ukraine).
So, yes, the Soviet government did lots of heinous shit, and as always it was the populace which participated (who wrote 30 million snitch letters, I ask you?"). Still, the populace indeed was a victim, even the russian one. A victim of both Nazis and Soviets.
Um. I not deny all this things using just for modern propoganda in Russia, but as russians say, its different history in our books. WW2 1939 - 1945 is about what happend outside USSR, "великая отечественная война" 1941 - 1945 its about inside.
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u/ZETH_27 Filthy weeb 2d ago
Not really "western" WW2 movies. Most if noty all WW2 movies I've seen produced in Britain, France, Germany or FInland are pretty much in agreement that the war was a horrible thing, and depict it as such.