The Star (Russian: Звезда) is a 2002 film from Russia directed by Nikolai Lebedev.
Summer, 1944. The Red Army has spent 2 1/2 years pushing the Germans back from the gates of Moscow to the pre-war frontier, but the German Army is still in the field and still fighting. Lt. Travkin is given a squad of scouts to go on a mission behind German lines, in an attempt to determine the location of German forces. This is a hideously dangerous mission; the last few teams sent behind enemy lines never came back. But they're soldiers and orders are orders, so Lt. Travkin takes seven men into enemy-held country. Many hair-raising moments follow as the squad searches for the location of German tanks.
Remake of a film of the same name that was made in 1949, shelved by Stalin's censors, and finally released after Stalin died in 1953.
Tropes:
- Audible Sharpness: There's a loud zing when a German officer pulls out a big-ass knife during a fight to the death with Bykov.
- Binocular Shot: Done a couple of times as Lt. Travkin, hidden in woods or shrubs, scopes out German positions.
- Blood from the Mouth: How the film signals that Vorobiev, who has been bleeding out for a while, is finally dead.
- Cry into Chest: Katya does this with Capt. Barashkin after he tells her that Travkin is still alive. He mistakes this for a romantic moment, but when Katya picks up on this she pulls back with a "nyet."
- Dead Guy on Display: A couple of the men are hiding in a German supply truck, and they pass a burnt-out village. Russian civilians are hanging from poles.
- Doomed Moral Victor: What's left of the squad is killed to the last man when the Germans catch them in a farmhouse, which the Germans eventually burn down. But before they died, they radioed back the necessary intelligence, relaying not just what forces were where, but when and where the Germans were planning to attack. This allows the Red Army to crush the German offensive.
- Dramatic Sit-Down: Katya, the radio officer back at base who took a shine to Lt. Travkin, has a feeling that he's dead. She sits down heavily when Capt. Barashkin reassures her that Travkin is alive.
- Facecam: On Sgt. Anikanev as he hangs back, forming a one-man rear guard and shooting at the German platoon as the rest of the men try and escape. The film finally cuts away from the Facecam after Anikanev is shot.
- Fatal Family Photo: Lt. Travkin looks at pictures of his family as the squad is getting ready to leave. Naturally, he's killed at the end. (So is everyone else.)
- Gray Rain of Depression: The pouring rain washes the mud off of Bykov's face as the rest of the squad digs a shallow grave for him.
- Off-into-the-Distance Ending: Ends with a stream of Russian soldiers marching away from the camera, off to face the enemy.
- P.O.V. Cam: From the perspective of one of the men as he trains the sights of his rifle on a German soldier, who is just a few yards away.
- Staggered Zoom:
- Onto a German soldier, sleeping in an open truck, who wakes up and sees Lt. Travkin's squad passing by. This causes a whole platoon of Germans to chase the Russians, who have to flee into a swamp.
- Again near the end, when there's a staggered zoom onto a German sniper in a tree, as he draws a bead on the Russians in the barn.
- Title Drop: "Star" is the call sign for Lt. Travkin's squad.
- Trapped Behind Enemy Lines: They're scouts who do it on purpose, in order to gather intelligence on German positions.
- War Is Hell: It is! The opening scene shows a small Russian village caught in an artillery barrage. The next morning reveals corpses everywhere, including many civilians.
