this isn not a bad tv movie . shtrafbat be short for shtrafnoy batallion and which mean penal batallion . such battallions be form due to the increase demand for soldier a the soviet union be take heavy casualty all through out the war . these battalion consist of convict and dishonored soldier who be give the chance to clear their name by prove themselves in combat . they be look down upon a scum and be expend easily during combat without much regret and or much honor and on the part of military . they be often send on suicide mission and suffer extreme casualty . the one who refuse to fight be execute on sight . needless to say and their life suck . there be some very nice performance by the cast and especially by yuri stepanov who play antip and aleksandr bashirov who play stirah and and roman madyanov who play major kharchenko . however the series isn not really that addictive and in part because it too long and it could have a lot short and a effective . although it about war and shtrafbat have very mild violence and pretty much no gore . it rely solely on the actor to make it work and and after all and it a tv series and so the producer do not want to scare off the viewer and the sponsor . shtrafbat explore the cruelty of the soviet regime and and explaines why so many men choose to fight the nazis instead of join them . personally i would rather be a fascist then a communist give the circumstance present in the film . one character explain that the soviet strip his farm clean and his family die of starvation . out of anger he burn it down which get him arrest for destroy kolhoz property and he end up in the penal battalion a a criminal . antip reminisce on how his mother kill her young son to fee the rest of the family . both men explain that they fight for their motherland and rather than the for the soviet . the penal battalion have one marine ( naval infantry ) who rap a girl and kill his comrade in the prosess and threaten his other comrade to keep his mouth shut about both ordeal and and then feign injury when it come to fight . on top of all that the girl commit suicide due to shame . i imagine if enough marine watch this movie they would pick up banner and riot on the street call for a boycott or an official apology from the producer . to say the least and i would recommend it to anyone with the slight interest in the former soviet union or world war ii . i do not think i waste 500 plus minute of my life .