How sad is this?

A Major Disappointment

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Spain, 1939 . On the day the Civil War ends , five comrade soldiers who sacrificed themselves (Conrado San Martín as Enrique , José María Rodero as Vicente , Antonio Almorós as Paulino and Julio Peña) during the Spanish Civil War from the National side , all of them have just joined to take on unfortunate circumstances and make themselves a shot together and promise to meet ten years later at the same place in Madrid . Meanwhile , the two friends Enrique and Vicente fall for the same woman (Marisa De Leza) . On June 41 , Hitler invaded Russia and Moscow is besieged , then they draft as volunteers to fight against the communists . The Blue División , officially designated as División Española de Voluntarios by the Spanish Army . Infanterie-Division in the German Army was a unit of Spanish volunteers and conscripts that served in the German Army on the Eastern Front of the Second World War . It also included 1.000 men of the Portuguese Legion send by the Portuguese Estado Novo under the Spanish Flag , many of them had already fought in the Viriatos during the Spanish Civil War . The Blue Division were the only component of the German Army to be awarded a medal of their own, commissioned by Hitler after the effectiveness it had impeding the advance of the Red Army. The casualties of the Blue Division and its successors included 4,954 men killed and 8,700 wounded . Another 372 members of the Blue Division, the Blue Legion, or volunteers were taken prisoner by the victorious Red Army; 286 of these men were kept in captivity until 1954, when they returned to Spain aboard the ship Semiramis, supplied by the International Red Cross .Acceptable picture deals with the peculiar relationships among members of a patrol , developing the course of their lives and their stay on the Russian steppes battling the Stalin troops . Along with sensitive love story in which two soldiers fall in love for a beautiful woman , though it has a lot of flaws and gaps . It is an interesting film about the Spanish Civil War and División Azul , being full of jingoist fanfare , drama , nostalgia , good feeling , touching images as well as sad scenes , including war stock footage , along with images showing deaths , scarcity , famine and penury . It is a simple , dramatic and thought-provoking portrait of a time when the Spanish had to go Russia in order to fight communism . Highlights of the movie are some battle scenes and the impressive images when a tank runs over a cemetery filled with crosses and hulks . This issue about Spanish volunteers in División Azul and imprisonment in concentration camps has been regarded in other films as ¨Embajadores En El Infierno¨ by Jose Maria Forque , ¨La Espera¨ by Vicente Lluch and ¨Ispansi¨ by Carlos Iglesias . Well played by Conrado San Martin who was considered to be one of the greatest stars of the 40s and 50s interpreting some hits . And great support cast as the prestigious stage actor José Maria Rodero , his wife Elvira Quintillá , Antonio Almorós, Germán Cobos , Fernando Delgado , Adriano Domínguez , Tomás Blanco , Julio Riscal , Aníbal Vela , Beni Deus , and two young players : Vicente Parra and Arturo Fernández.Atmosperic soundtrack by Mtro. Fernando García Morcillo with Spanish civil war songs performed by the chorus of the Academy Nacional de Mandos and Intructores Jose Antonio , and adding Aragon Jotas and other popular songs as ¨Lili Marlen¨. It packs an atmospheric cinematography by Manuel Berenguer , a perfect remastering being extremely necessary , that's why the film copy is washed-out. This is a fiction movie , written by José María Sánchez Silva and Rafael García Serrano , adding some stock-footage , made in old style , boasting the Spanish past grandeur , being professionally directed by Pedro Lazaga , though it has some ups and downs . Pedro Lazaga was born on October 3, 1918 in Valls, Tarragona, Catalonia , and deceased in 1979 . He was a director and writer, known for Los Chicos Del Preu (1967), and his notorious films about Spanish Civil war and Francoist period as Cuerda De Presos (1956) , El Frente Infinito , La Fiel Infantería and Posición Avanzada (1966). Being specially known for his comedies as Abuelo Made in Spain , Las Secretarias , Abominable Hombre De Costa Del Sol , La Pandilla De Los Once , Trampa Para Catalina , Martes Y Trece , Trio De Damas and many others .