SPOILER ALERT: You've been warned.Like others who've posted before me, I loved this series. I watched this as a TV series on Hulu. I was hooked from the first episode forward. The acting and writing are first rate. The subtitles follow the action - sometimes you find the subtitles are either wrong or not timed properly. This was not the case with the Hulu TV version. I do have to say when the dialog was in German, there was a Russian language translator speaking over the German language (you can hear both German and Russian) with English subtitles on the bottom. Nevertheless, it was not too distracting and did not take anything away from the film.This is a story about a WW2 (aka The Great Patriotic War in Russia) pilot who becomes engaged and separated from his fiancé only to find he is ordered to drop a "package" to the Russian underground in the occupied parts of the Soviet Union. There is plenty of suspense and drama mixed in with a love story that moves at a nice pace. I was never bored or thinking this series is dragging. Like others, I was completely surprised at the low rating when I looked it up on IMDb. It is far better than the surprising lower ratings. If there is something negative I'd say the special effects are not quite (but close) to some of the better special effects in either an English or American film. But it does not take anything away from the story. Two Thumbs and Ten Toes Up!

This was one of the greatest movies I have ever watched. Absolutely amazing. It is definitely longer than your average eat-popcorn-drink- soda-sleep-on-the-couch movie. But it has everything you might expect from a movie so long: you have the story of a Soviet pilot during WW2 which finds himself in enemy's territory. Then, you have the guerrilla wars between the Nazis and the Soviets. Also, the friendships formed during war, the life of civilians during these times and of course, the best of them all, the main love story which is absolutely brilliant. Recommended for anyone who has some spare hours and wishes to see a masterpiece!

I'm also extremely surprised to see such a low rating on this film; I thought it was fantastic. I may not have watched it if I had seen its IMDb rating before hand, especially since I'm not usually a fan of long-winded films. Whilst maybe It was merely a 9/10 in my eyes, I've given it a deserving 10/10 to boost its ranking.Set during world war 2, this action packed, 3 hour long, Russian war-time love story was originally meant to be a high budget Russian TV series. For those of you like me who struggle watching long films, I suggest splitting the film in two or three parts of thoroughly enjoyable viewing.p.s If you're unsure, I suggest you ignore rating!

It's such a big surprise to me to see the number of people vote, and their marks about this film. Then, i realize that maybe it's a Russian film - which is not so popular in the Western. And it's about the WW2 and the Soviet, so people expect to see cruel stuffs of the Soviet gor, not something else. I can smell it 'cause im from a socialist country. To be frank, this film is not a propaganda one. An it should be received more attention from the West. It's based on a novel, so there's nothing to complain about the story line. The film contains many beautiful image, and the music is perfect. The only thing that i don't like is that the scenes change so quickly. If you don't mind watching a 3-hour long film, you should spend your time on this one. I can guarantee that you wont regret it.