Okhota na gaulyaytera (2012–2013) User Reviews

Great Historical Context

[chrissso · 8/10 · 29 March 2017]

I'm a big fan of Star Media's WW2 TV mini-series … especially the remake of classic "The Dawns Here Are Quiet." They are characteristically authentic, they look great and the casting is always spot on!

This mini-series is no exception. More so this mini has remarkable historical context! Consider the setting … Minsk in 1941 … Belorussia has been brutally attacked by Nazis forces and social order is obliterated. A new order must be formed. The key players are the citizens, the collaborators, the resistance, the Nazi Party (Hitler) and the Waffen SS (Himmler). Imagine the politics, the rivalries, the intrigue!

Understandably this is a setting that is not typically found in western films and that's what makes it remarkable. What was it was like in Belorussia in these turbulent times … this film will help you understand. And keep in mind that the Gauleiter in the film Wilhelm Kraube is based on the actual Gauleiter Wilhelm Kube … who really died from a bomb in his bed.

That said this series is a little too long (10 X 50 mins) and you can see they added fluff … especially at the end where we see the stupidest cat fight ever! Also the version I watch suffered from horrible English subtitles which made it very difficult to watch (pause-rewind-replay).

Finally Anastasia Zavorotnyuk is totally enchanting and you will feel for her throughout.

Great series … highly recommended … 8 of 10

POST: To show IMDb what I think of their disabling their message boards, I am vowing to stop using Amazon's pay per view service! Google Play, VUDU and Netflix are excellent alternatives ... and are often cheaper. Thanks IMDb ... way to treat your dedicated customers who want to share their passion for films and history!

Great historical drama on a budget

[scocope-654-771165 · 8/10 · 10 November 2019]

If you are a fan of the sort of quality movie making Italian Westerns have or just like Walker, Texas Ranger type of quality then you'll like this. The scripts telegraph the storylines and a lot of the characters are one-dimensional to the point of farce. Yet, most of the acting is good with what the actors are given; it's not their fault that they are given these scenes nor lines. The shots of sets of the inside of offices and homes are very well done but you can really see the limits a small budget presented to the production in large crowds and especially in action scenes. Then why did I give it an 8? I cared about the characters and was interested in the storylines. The acting was well done despite what the actors had to work with. Ignore the shortcomings (and even chuckle at them at times) and you'll like this.

Similar theme to Un Village Francais

[emuir-1 · 9/10 · 4 February 2018]

If you enjoyed (if that is the right word) the French TV series Un Village Francais which has been running for the past six or seven years on MhzWorldview, this series is for you. Instead of the German occupation of a small town in South East France, France, and how the population coped, this series is set in BeloRussia but with a difference. In the French series the German occupiers were initially friendly and on orders to behave themselves. It was intended to be a peaceful occupation as a preventive measure. As conditions worsened, the mood began to shift the and townspeople unwittingly began to take sides. The Germans began harsher methods. Going along to get alone began to slide into collaboration or resistance - the lines were blurred - good people did bad things and vice versa. No one was good, and not everyone was bad. No one began as a resister or collaborator, circumstances beyond their control drove them too it. The viewer began to wonder what would I have done in such a situation.

By contrast, with Hunting the Gauleiter, the Germans are unmitigatingly BAD from day one, bombing refugee trains, attacking civilians, shooting prisoners of war and rounding up the entire Jewish population of Minsk. Of course, they only have 10 episodes to do it, whereas the French series has taken 7 years. I find it interesting to watch another country's films and TV to get a different perspective on events. Few people in the USA have a clue that Russia was even in WW2, let alone the terrible treatment they received at the hands of the Germans and the overall suffering of the civilian population. It is also a change to see the Russian people as normal human beings, with attractive young men and women, rather than plug ugly brainwashed morons built like refrigerators as they have frequently been depicted in Western films.