Fortress of War

Fortress of War (Russian: Брестская крепость; translit. Brestskaia krepost; festival title: The Brest Fortress) is a 2010 Russian-Belarusian war film recounting the June 1941 defense of Brest Fortress against invading Wehrmacht forces in the opening stages of Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II. Events are narrated from the perspective of 15-year-old Sasha Akimov, centering on three resistance zones holding out against the protracted German siege. The defending forces are led by regiment commander Major Pyotr Gavrilov (44th Rifle Regiment of the Red Army), with Regimental Commissar Yefim Fomin (84th Rifle Regiment of the Red Army), and the head of the 9th Frontier Outpost, Lieutenant Andrey Mitrofanovich Kizhevatov. The film makers claim that the plot is as close as possible to historical fact, and that the Brest Fortress Museum supervised the plot thoroughly.