First Squad - The Moment Of Truth 720p - (2009 Lang: English)

First Squad (Japanese: ファーストスクワッド Fāsuto sukuwaddo, Russian: Пе́рвый отря́д, Perviy otryad) is a joint animation project of Japan's Studio 4°C and Russia's Molot Entertainment. It won the Kommersant newspaper's prize.

Set during the opening days of World War II on the Eastern Front (autumn and winter of 1941/1942). Its main cast are a group of Soviet teenagers with extraordinary abilities; the teenagers have been drafted to form a special unit to fight the invading German army. They are opposed by a Schutzstaffel (SS) officer who is attempting to raise from the dead a supernatural army of crusaders from the 12th-century Order of the Sacred Cross (i.e. the Teutonic Knights) and enlist them in the Nazi cause. Most of the teenage crew die, except for the protagonist Nadya. She is taken to a secret Soviet lab that studies supernatural phenomena, especially contacts with the dead. Nadya's task is to dive into the world of the dead for reconnaissance. There, in the Gloomy Valley, she meets her dead friends and persuades them to continue fighting.

It is a true masterpiece. But not for mainstream hamburger eaters. The great story. The movie addresses history and a lot of Soviet era archetypes, as well as spiritual side of life. It makes the film interesting for any nation. A lot of people in Soviet Union was up-brought on the idea of spiritual strength of Motherland defenders and readiness to sacrifice own life defending Motherland. This makes them comparable to Japanese fighters. All of them were taught that the spirit of people is winning wars, not tanks or bombs. That's one of the ideas of the film as I see it. Though there are disputes now under way were Soviets good or bad guys in WWII, some facts are indisputable. 1) A most of German nation was brainwashed and declared themselves supermen. A lot of ideological, manipulative and even occult methods were applied to do it.

2) The Soviet people faced a prospect of slavery and holocaust from Nazis. Though Soviet government was also very aggressive and did a lot to kill and convict a lot of Soviets as well, poor soviet people had no choice but fight for the survival. The survival of Motherland (even so cruel to own citizens), people, and family, culture and history, but not personal survival only. The chance to survive was minimal, but the spirit was very strong. The own live was something many of these people were ready to sacrifice for victory. It was mass heroism, and not fanaticism. Most of them were just usual people, not samurais or specially trained professionals. The wave of the people outrage towards Nazis was tremendous. Majority of fighters (unlike modern Islam kamikaze) did not believe in Heavens and rewards after life or heroic death, they knew that there were almost no chance to stay alive, they wanted victory and were ready to pay for it. And if after death they had a chance to fight, most of them were happy to do it. So many times Nazis were about to win, but something helped Russians again and again. E.g. Nazies were stopped in the Moscow suburbs with almost no Russian troops behind them. There were some other critical moments in this war when every little thing could play a main role in human history. If either Moscow or Stalingrad were captured, or in Battle of Kursk soviets were defeated WWII could be won by Nazis, US and UK alone without Soviets would never win the war, because Soviets paid the bloodiest price for the victory over the Nazis and were decisive power. So such moments are very interesting points of the history and issues in human psychology. The moments when the border between life and death is so illusive. I think that film creators by the artistic means succeeded to give a very interesting interpretation of such moments. So the film is a great and intellectual entertainment, it is much much better then thousands of other animated works. Great job guys! Thank you!

First and foremost, I must assert that the live-action interviews of this film do not "interrupt" the story. Rather, they are used as a framing device to further the telling of the story, and to give rather tacit nods to the direction the story is headed. They add fascinating detail and lend weight to scenes that might otherwise have passed unnoticed or unremarked upon. Additionally, the live-action segments are used to tell the story as a mockumentary, a sort of play on the countless World War II documentaries that exist as a means of telling a story.

Secondly, the notion that this work is offensive or disrespectful toward the Russian Sacred War is totally nonsense. The story holds Russia in a sort of reverence and depicts the Nazi forces in a negative light at all times. Its depiction of the war is fairly grim and realistic considering the fantastical elements added, but if that's the issue, then the war itself should be even more offensive to those who witnessed it first hand. If the issue is the fantastical elements, then that suggests that any fictional depiction of a real-world war is inherently offensive and wrong, as any fictional depiction includes elements that weren't present in the real world. The Men Who Stare at Goats, Hellboy, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, 300, Inglourious Basterds, Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, Braveheart, The Patriot, Dr. Strangelove, the list goes on. All of these are, by this logic, incredibly insensitive and inherently offensive depictions of events that are beyond fiction because of their very nature. To assert that any fantastical depiction of a real world event is somehow unacceptable is to actively limit and suppress the medium.

**SPOILERS BELOW** Finally, I must address people's complaints with the film's ending. Nadya survives, the titular Moment of Truth is swayed in favor of the Russians, the balance of World War II subtly tips against the Nazis, the Russian captain survives, Ahnenerbe's plot has failed, and von Wolff retreats back into the Gloomy Valley, taking his sword with him. To hear people describe this ending, you'd think the Nazis had won and the film had just ended, but that's not the case at all. As I outlined, von Wolff is defeated. He retreats from the world of the living, taking the only thing allowing him to enter our world - his sword - with him. Ahnenerbe was only able to bring him back to determine the outcome of the Moment of Truth because they had his sword and now they don't. He's gone, effectively dead, but people still claim he somehow got off Scott-free. Another thing, Nadya's friends were also dead. Those in the Gloomy Valley died as soldiers and can be brought back through black magic or psychic connections to determine the course of history in predetermined Moments of Truth, thereby continuing to fight for their country with a chance to die permanently and move beyond the Valley. To assert that Nadya's friends disappearing somehow leaves something inconclusive is totally incorrect. Either they returned to the Gloomy Valley or they ascended into the afterlife beyond it. That was their purpose in the film, to help resolve the Moment of Truth, and it would make no sense for the movie to treat them any differently from anyone else returning from the Gloomy Valley. To have them resurrect and stay in the mortal world would be extremely inconsistent and cheapen death. What's more, to assert the movie ended too soon is to disregard the entire crux of the movie. The whole point was to sway the Moment of Truth in favor of Russia, with the First Squad getting involved only because Ahnenerbe involved warriors from the Gloomy Valley first. Once the Moment is passed and Russia is victorious, there's nothing left in the story to be told. Nadya won. The mission was a success.

To put my feelings simply, the film was a fascinating departure from the normal trappings of the genre, paying homage to World War II documentaries through live-action interviews with decent actors and real WWII veterans as a framing device, that quickly and succinctly told the story it set out from the very beginning to tell and ended exactly when it should have. I feel some of the dissent people have over the film is largely based on the ending because it doesn't feel like a happy ending. There's no bright shiny rainbow, Nadya doesn't describe how she spends the rest of her days happy, and her friends don't miraculously come back to life. To dislike a film for playing a straight, no-frills but still positive ending instead of a saccharine perfect happy ending is totally nonsense, as that too limits what filmmakers can do. If this stigma against a serious, straight-faced ending is because the work is a cartoon, then that speaks to the bias against serious animated works in general, not to the quality of this work.

The voice acting was spot-on, the sound effects fantastic, the character design and animation eye-catching and appealing, the story straight forward and unflinching, and the resolution tonally perfect.

My only nitpick is that Nadya had a katana for no reason and the monk's survival seems unnecessary. Other than that, everything was spot-on.