The Partisans use Kragujs, light assault/training planes developed decades after WWII.
We are led to believe that the story is about formation and development of first and only partisan squadron in 1942 and that its members are founders of what was to become partisan air force.
However, the look of the base the surviving squaddies are relocated to at the end of the film suggests it has been there for quite some time and developed completely independently.
Silver Arena |
| Best Director |
While you probably wouldn't suspect it today, during WWII some of the bravest airmen and women flew planes which were seemingly completely obsolete. Russian women pilots flew old biplanes--effectively attacking German troops during night raids.
Partizanska Eskadrila was an obsession of every kid in early eighties (making me no exception). It tried to follow the contemporary Hollywood action scheme and presented advanced visuals for that time.
An interesting Yugoslavian WWII film about which celebrates the relatively unsung story of the Yugoslavian Partisan air-force who took on the might of the Luftwaffe with outdated biplanes in 1942 occupied Yugoslavia.Cinematically there are some superb sequences in this film shot against the dramatic backdrop of Yugoslavian scenery but the film is badly let down by some poorly thought out and clichéd scenes and dog fights using model aircraft where the aeroplanes have a tendency to burst into unconvincing explosions.
It really amazed me to see that someone would take so much time to assess such a bad movie. The beginning (of the film) had some truth in it.
Okay, I guess it's not realistic. Being unfamiliar with the history of the Partisan Air Force, I can't say.
I bought "50 Combat Classics" for 10 bucks at Walmart, not expecting much, and the version of Partizanska Escadrila, called "Battle of the Eagles" on Disc 8 lived down to expectations. This is not to say my 10 bucks were wasted, there have been some pleasant surprises in the 50 films, but this was not one of them.
Throughout the 1950s and into the 60s, 70s and even into the 80s, a slew of war films were produced in the former Yugoslavia, glorifying the heroism of the "Partisans" civilians who turned out to fight a guerrilla war against the invading German forces. Hajrudin Krvavac, who's generally only known in Eastern Europe, directed quite a few of these "partisan" stories; unfortunately, only a handful of them were ever exported to the rest of the Europe and the United States.
