Product Details

• Actors: Erich von Manstein
• Directors: Harriet Eder, Thomas Kufus
• Writers: Harriet Eder, Thomas Kufus
• Producers: Carol Sennett
• Format: Black & White, Color, NTSC
• Subtitles: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Kino Video
• VHS Release Date: November 28, 2000
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304402848
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #243,261 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Amateur movies shot with small handheld cameras by six German infantrymen on the Eastern Front during World War II form the core of this documentary. The men who took the movies appear on camera as old men to provide narration (in German, with subtitles), and they provide a perspective not often heard. As might be expected, they distance themselves from atrocities, and as they were foot soldiers in the Wehrmacht, their denials of involvement are probably true. One of the men still owns the camera he carried in the war, and he demonstrates how its small size made it perfect for impromptu filming in the field. Clips of smiling troops on the move is accompanied by an old man talking about how happy they were to be going to an unknown destination, likening it to "the joy one feels when on a journey." It turns out the gleeful trip he recalls was actually the beginning of the invasion of Poland and thus the beginning of the war in Europe. Later footage shows combat conditions in Russia, and the grisly aftermath of vicious combat. The rarity of the film footage, some of which was shot in color, makes this documentary worth watching. But the recollections of the amateur cameramen also provide an unusual insight into the German war machine, such as when one of the old veterans mentions how he eventually realized, "This was no defensive war forced upon us, it was an idiotic war of aggression." --Robert J. McNamara

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a very moving collection of home videos of WWII, August 4, 2000

By 

Ruth Henriquez Lyon (Duluth, Minnesota USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mein Krieg [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is a documentary film comprising home videos shot by six German soldiers at the Russian front during World War II, combined with their present day reflections on the war and the experience of shooting the war. There is a lot of rather disjointed footage from the past, which, together with the current interviews with the soldiers, is skillfully edited into a very unified piece.

For me, what is most compelling about this film is not the war footage itself, but rather the soldiers talking about their footage as we watch it. Interspersed with scenes of the war are close-ups of these men as they continue speaking of their experience.....the expressions on their faces, which often belie their words, give an extremely accurate account on the effects of war on its survivors--effects which last a lifetime.

Thus, this is not just documentary of interest to World War II buffs. This film should interest anyone interested in the effects of war on people, and by extension, society.

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mein Kreig, January 29, 2000

By 

David R. McNamara (Cooperstown, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mein Krieg [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I was deeply impressed with the directors' ability to connect images of film shot by German soldiers in the 1941 Russian campaign with their present-day recollections fifty years after the war. Moving back and forth between vintage footage (some of it in beautiful, vintage color) and interviews, the movie uniquely illuminates the war with the veterans' understanding and interpretation of century-old events. Time changes many young men's views of war, and most of the interviewed veterans seemed to come to sobering and disturbing conclusions of the purpose of the Russian campaign and their participation in the Nazi military effort. Seeing images of Germany and Russia in color also has a profound effect as we are so used to seeing only black and white images of that period that it was almost like viewing the past through some magical history-lens. Anyone with interest in modern European history or World War II will find this film magical, illuminating and haunting. The film does include footage of combat and discussion of atrocities and is probably not appropriate for children.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting Documents of War and Death, November 12, 2001

By 

brx "brxx" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mein Krieg - My Private War (DVD)

First, a remark about the KINO DVD: It only contains the documentary, nothing else, picture quality is up to vhs standard only (of course I speak about the newer segments, shot in 1990), and worst of all, the english subtitles in this all-german film can not be switched off (the dvd was taken from an already subtitled print), which is very annoying as one would like to see the old images without big white letters written over them.
But then, what choice do you have?? This is the only version of this documentary available and so I have to live with it.

The documentary contains home-made films from 6 german soldiers on the eastern front and their recollections and comments 45 years later, sometimes incredible high-quality color shots, sometimes gruesome field hospital scenes, naked ukrainian women, heaps of corpses, burnt out panzers, hanged jews, shot partisans and ruins, ruins, ruins.

To me, these were the things which sticked in my mind, and I will surely not forget: The old china-trader, who comes across as the most distinguished and sympathetic of the veterans, admitting shooting partisans and having nightmares from it for 45 years each night. The Cynical one who states that the only thing he regrets was that he had not the opportunity to film the western theatre of war. And the reeducated one, giving hollow statements about how wrong it all was, but making (as the only one) his living by selling WWII photos in an agency. There are a lot of gruesome, funny, interesting things to see, but the most memorable one were the faces of the already beaten soldiers, 10 minutes befor the battle of Kiev, knowing they will die.

This documentary is unbelievably valuable, presenting views and thoughts beyond any censorship or propaganda, so one has to own it as you're never be able to see things like this again, shame about the presentation on DVD which could have been so much better.