DVD Review: The Siege Of Leningrad

The Siege Of Leningrad is a documentary recounting the events of Germany’s siege of the city during World War II, with the focus being on the hardships of those within the city and how they coped. It includes interviews with some of those who lived through the events, as well as a lot of excellent footage.

The film provides a brief description of the city and its people at the time before the siege began. The narrator tells us: “In Leningrad it was considered inappropriate to be concerned about international events and lend credence to unhealthy moods, as they were called.” In addition to interviews with citizens of Leningrad, the film includes an interview with Anna Reid, author of Leningrad: Tragedy Of A City Under Siege, who talks about how the new soldiers were given very little training and few weapons. And there is footage of citizens volunteering for military service.

But it is the footage of the citizens trying to survive within the city that is most striking, such as the shots of people desperately collecting water. On September 8, 1941, the last remaining land connection between Leningrad and the rest of the country was cut off. The Nazis bombed food storage facilities and warehouses and factories in the early days, and food reserves became scarce within a few weeks. There is a lot of specific information on the rationing of food, such as the fact that people with jobs got twice the amount of bread as those without jobs.

While battling hunger, the inhabitants also had to deal with the terrible cold of winter. And there is some interesting and depressing information on the changing behavior of citizens, as dead bodies on the streets became a common sight. The zoo animals and pets were killed for food, and some people even resorted to cannibalism. (There is one story of a mother who fed pieces of her dead son to her daughter to keep her alive.) Between January and March of 1942, approximately 300,000 people died in Leningrad. While the siege lasted until early 1944, the film focuses on 1941 and 1942.

One detail I found interesting is that immediately after the war, a large museum was opened to chronicle the siege, and that then in 1948 Stalin had it destroyed “out of fear of its power to unify the people,” according to the narrator. Decades later, a smaller museum opened, and the film includes an interview with museum curator Irina Muravjova. There is a lot of information from the diaries from the time.

One complaint I have regarding this film is that instead of including English subtitles for those interviewed, a translator provides voice over. The problem is the sound in the original language is not lowered, so it’s sometimes difficult to concentrate, because you’re hearing two voices speaking simultaneously at the same volume.

The Siege Of Leningrad was written and directed by Michael Kloft, and was released on DVD on August 26, 2014 through First Run Features. Also released on that date was Kloft’s “Fuhrer” Cult And Megalomania.