Panfilov's 28 Men
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Panfilov's 28 Men'' (, translit. ''28 panfilovtsev'') is a 2016 WWII film based on a legend about a group of soldiers –
Panfilov's Twenty-Eight Guardsmen The Panfilov Division's Twenty-Eight Guardsmen (), commonly referred to simply as Panfilov's Twenty-Eight Guardsmen, Panfilov's Men (, ''Panfilovtsy''), or just the Twenty-Eight, is a group of soldiers from the Red Army's 316th Rifle Division ...
– heroically halting and destroying German tanks headed for Moscow. It is set in the
Eastern Front of World War II The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a theatre of World War II fought between the European Axis powers and Al ...
and covers the
8th Guards Rifle Division The 8th Guards Motor Rifle Panfilov Division (; ) originally the 316th Rifle Division, is a motorized infantry division of the Armed Forces of the Kyrgyz Republic. Formed as a Soviet Red Army division during World War II, it was dissolved in 20 ...
operations during the 1941
Battle of Moscow The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II, between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated H ...
. On DVD, it is also known as ''Battle for Moscow'' or ''Thunder of War'' in North American distribution. The film is directed by Kim Druzhinin and
Andrey Shalopa Andrey Gennadievich Shalopa (, born February 19, 1972) – is a Russian film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the ...
, produced by Panfilov's Twenty Eight and
Gaijin Entertainment Gaijin Entertainment is a Hungarian video game developer headquartered in Budapest. The company is mostly known for '' War Thunder, Crossout'', '' Star Conflict'', '' CRSED: Cuisine Royale'' (formerly known as ''Cuisine Royale'' and ''CRSED: ...
. Initially the film used crowdfunding; later, it was financially supported by the governments of Russia and
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
, as well as video game developers Gaijin Entertainment. The premiere took place in
Volokolamsk Volokolamsk () is a town and the administrative center of Volokolamsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Gorodenka River, not far from its confluence with the Lama River, northwest of Moscow. Population: 25,729 (2024 Estimate ...
on 16 November 2016 and in Russia on 24 November 2016. The screenplay was written by Andrey Shalopa in 2009, and the production team took their
teaser trailer A teaser trailer, also shortened to teaser, is a short trailer (promotion), trailer and a form of teaser campaign advertising that focuses on film and television programming. It is a videography pre-release film or television show advertisement. Sh ...
of the film to Boomstarter
crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...
platform, seeking co-financiers. The crowdfunding campaign was successful, and the film raised 3 million rubles out of planned 300 thousands. By the time of the premiere the film raised 34.7 million rubles. In May 2014 Gaijin Entertainment, Russian game development company known for its game
War Thunder ''War Thunder'' is a 2013 free-to-play vehicular combat multiplayer video game produced by Gaijin Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Oculus, and Vive. It was first relea ...
joined the funding. In December 2014 the film won a grant of 30 million
rubles The ruble or rouble (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is a currency unit. Currently, currencies named ''ruble'' in circulation include the Russian ruble (RUB, ₽) in Russia and the Belarusian ruble (BYN, Rbl) in Belarus. These currencies are su ...
from
Russian Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation () is a ministry of the Government of Russia responsible for state policy in cultural spheres such as art, cinematography, archives, copyright, cultural heritage, and censorship. Formation and ...
, and later the Ministry of Culture and Sport of Kazakhstan added another $287 thousand. Collecting money, producing and renting the film accompanied a vigorous discussion of its historical authenticity in the blogosphere and the media. The picture was positively received, having collected in the CIS 384 million rubles and becoming the best film of the year according to the results of the
VTsIOM Russian Public Opinion Research Center (, , VCIOM) is a state-owned polling institution established in 1987, known as the All-Union Center for the Study of Public Opinion until 1992. VCIOM is the oldest polling institution in post-Soviet Russia ...
poll.


Plot

USSR, late November 1941. Based on the account by reporter Vasiliy Koroteev that appeared in the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
's newspaper, '' Krasnaya Zvezda'', shortly after the
Battle of Moscow The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II, between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated H ...
, this is the story of Panifilov's Twenty-Eight, a group of twenty-eight soldiers of the Red Army's
316th Rifle Division The 316th Rifle Division was formed as a Red Army division during World War II. The division was initially formed in July 1941, renamed the 8th Guards Rifle Division on 18 November 1941. The division was recreated at Vjasniki in July 1942, fough ...
, under the command of General
Ivan Panfilov Ivan Vasilyevich Panfilov (; – 18 November 1941) was a Soviet Union, Soviet general and a posthumous Hero of the Soviet Union, known for his command of the 8th Guards Rifle Division, 316th Rifle Division during the Battle of Moscow, defense of ...
, that stopped the advance on Moscow of a column of fifty-four German tanks and hundreds of infantry who guarded tanks' flanks of the
11th Panzer Division The 11th Panzer Division () was an armoured division in the German Army during World War II, established in 1940. The division saw action on the Eastern and Western Fronts during the Second World War. The 11th Panzer Division did not partici ...
for several days. Though armed only with standard issue Mosin-Nagant infantry rifles and DP and PM-M1910 machine guns, all useless against tanks, and with
RPG-40 The RPG-40 was an anti-tank hand grenade developed by the Soviet Union in 1940. A marginally effective design capable of penetrating about of steel armour, it was soon replaced by the RPG-43 and later the RPG-6, both used shaped charges to inc ...
anti-tank grenade An anti-tank grenade is a specialized hand-thrown grenade used to defeat armored targets. Although their inherently short range limits the usefulness of grenades, troops can lie in ambush or maneuver under cover to exploit the limited outward vis ...
s and
PTRD-41 The PTRD-41 () is an anti-tank rifle that was produced and used from 1941 by the Soviet Red Army during World War II. It is a single-shot weapon which fires the 14.5×114 mm round, which was able to penetrate German tanks such as the Panzer III a ...
anti-tank rifles, they fought tirelessly and defiantly, with uncommon bravery and unwavering dedication, to protect Moscow and their Motherland.


Cast


Production

Due to the peculiarities of the crowd-budgeting budget, the casting took a long time. The first confirmed actor was Yakov Kucherevskiy, who played Sergeant Dobrobabin - he agreed to star two years before filming. The most recent confirmed Aleksey Morozov for the role of political instructor Klochkov one day before the start of the shooting period. Panfilov's division was formed in the
Kazakh SSR The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Kazakhstan, the Kazakh SSR, KSSR, or simply Kazakhstan, was one of the transcontinental constituent republics of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1936 to 1991. Located in northern Centr ...
, the company included many Kazakhs, so many actors of Asian appearance were required in the crowd - Shalope's team turned to the national diasporas of Moscow,
St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...
and
Ivanovo Ivanovo (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Russia and the administrative center and largest city of Ivanovo Oblast, located northeast of Moscow and approximately from Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Russia, Vladimir and Kostroma. ...
. In general, the team consisted of 360 participants, and in total the project involved up to 700 people.


Filming

In the process of filming, the picture operators used the following documents: storyboard, director's script, operator's table and tank battle scheme. The battle scheme contained the exact location of the tanks and the camera at different times, and the operator's table described what technique to use in what scenes. Such careful preparation allowed the team to work in winter conditions and with a short daylight. The directors wanted to use a minimum of 3D animation and take as many effects as possible on the camera. The first experiments they conducted, moving primitive toy tanks the size of a matchbox on the sheets with the help of ropes. These experiments have shown that using reduced models of tanks will create the right level of realism. As a contractor for the creation of special effects, Scandinava studio, previously specializing in commercials and having no experience with large films, was chosen. Specialists from Scandinava performed experiments on high-speed shooting and interested Druzhinin and Shalopu with his clip "Oil", in which a column of combustible liquid was rotating and ignited without the use of 3D animation. To work on the film, the studio expanded the staff from six to 28 people. To create personnel with tanks, studio specialists used the old technology of combined shooting-special effect. On the field, full-size wooden models of tanks, covered with green cloth, were used in the field, which the workers moved around the field on a sleigh. Then the surveyors made measurements of the landscape, and Scandinava recreated the battlefield at a scale of 1:16 in the studio and photographed all the scenes with detailed models of tanks, reduced by 16 times. To create a winter atmosphere in the film (snow, blizzard, the sky changing in the film's drama), the consequences of the attacks (smoke, ash), and to amplify gun shots and some explosions, Scandinava decided not to use the traditional approach using CGI (
Computer-generated imagery Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is a specific-technology or application of computer graphics for creating or improving images in Digital art, art, Publishing, printed media, Training simulation, simulators, videos and video games. These images ...
, The letters "computer-generated images"), instead taking real natural effects on the camera. Shooting on the nature, tanks and natural effects were collected by layers on the computer in one single image. This approach required a certain technique of filming. In order to move the toy tank were like moving the present, it was necessary to shoot it four times faster, and then slow down the received frames. The camera, accordingly, had to be moved four times faster than on the field, which can not be done with hands. Therefore, in the pavilion shootings for camera control, the operators used the robotic arm KUKA Agilus, provided and programmed with the help of specialists from the Research Research Institute of Robotics. For close-up shots, a full-size mock-up of the PzKpfw IV tank was built, the cabin of which was recreated on Lenfilm as a separate capsule on the springs, which made it possible to achieve realistic pitching during shooting. Currently, the layout is kept in the Museum of the Karelian isthmus in the Vyborg. The whole film was shot on the camera Arri Alexa (English) Russian, except for tanks, where because of the size required the apparatus of the company Red. Optometry used a spherical lens Illumina of the St. Petersburg plant "LOMO" - according to the operator, this solution allowed to smooth out the effect of the "excessively high-quality" image, which is inherent in all modern cameras.


Music

Sound for the film was recorded and reduced to the technical base of the studio " Nevafilm". Mikhail Kostylev, famous for his soundtracks for computer games, took up writing music for the film. According to the composer, he sought to convey a sense of pride in the Victory and the feat, creating an epic musical background in which the drama would remain. The leitmotif of most compositions is the theme "Eternal Flame", which Kostylev wrote at an early stage of the production of the film. The soundtrack was recorded after the presentation of the video, with the first score for all instruments was recorded using a
MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...
editor. This allowed the director to immediately appreciate the approximate sound of the music, its mood and tempo. Then, using a metronome, individual instrument parts, vocals, chorus and parts were recorded, in which a whole orchestra was involved. Choral parts are performed by vocalists of the Moscow Synodal Choir under the direction of the Honored Artist of Russia Aleksei Puzankov, instrumental musicians of the ensemble of soloists of the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Philharmonic.


Reception


Government support

Apart from its crowdfunding budget, Panfilov's 28 Men was produced with backing from the culture ministries of Russia and Kazakhstan. Russian culture minister
Vladimir Medinsky Vladimir Rostislavovich Medinsky (; born 18 July 1970) is a Russian politician, political scientist and historian who currently serves as an Aide to President Vladimir Putin. Previously, he has served as the Minister of Culture from May 2012 t ...
praised the planned release of the film, telling the upper chamber of Russia's parliament that the production reflected the country's interest in patriotic films. Referencing criticism over the historical accuracy of the Soviet legend that formed the basis of the movie, he stated that the story is "a sacred legend that shouldn't be interfered with. People that do that are filthy scum." Russian state media showed president
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
watching the film with Kazakh president
Nursultan Nazarbayev Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev (born 6 July 1940) is a Kazakhstani politician who served as the first president of Kazakhstan from 1991 to 2019. He also held the special title of Elbasy from 2010 to 2022 and chairman of the Security Council of ...
.


Box office

Rent a film in Russia was held from November 24 to December 26, 2016. The volume of the total ticket office for the first weekend was 180,559,249 rubles. In its opening weekend, Panfilov's 28 Men was the second highest grossing movie at the Russian and
Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
box office, behind the film ''
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them may refer to: * ''Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'' (book), a 2001 book by J. K. Rowling * ''Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'' (film), a 2016 film by David Yates ** ''Fantastic Beasts and Wher ...
''. According to the report of the Cinema Foundation, at the 48th week (from 24 to 30 November), Russian cinemas were visited by 3.4 million spectators, of which every fourth spectator chose "28 panfilovtsev", and the fees amounted to 209.8 million rubles. The fund reports that the percentage of morning and afternoon shows was at evening level. That is, the film attracted a wide audience - and the adult viewer, and schoolchildren with students. In total, up to November 30, 36,616 sessions were held in Russia, which were attended by 878,944 spectators. The fees in
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
amounted to 61.3 million tenge. On December 26, the film became available for purchase in online stores, and on January 27, 2017, it was released on DVD and Blu-ray. By mid-January, box office fees amounted to about 366.6 million rubles in Russia, and all in the CIS countries the film collected 385 million rubles.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Panfilov's 28 Men 2016 films 2010s Russian films 2010s Russian-language films 2010s action war films 2016 war drama films Crowdfunded films Russian action war films Russian action drama films Russian war drama films Russian-language action drama films Russian-language war drama films Films set in Moscow Films set in 1941 Films shot in Moscow Films set in the Soviet Union Eastern Front of World War II films Films based on short fiction Films about armoured warfare Universal Pictures films Russian World War II films 2010s historical action films Russian historical action films Russian historical drama films Russian-language historical action films Russian-language historical drama films