Vlasov: General For Two Devils/Russian Volunteers in Hitler's Army DVD Review by Blaine Taylor

Patriot or traitor? That is the still burning and controversial question that this extraordinary documentary attempts to answer about Russian Gen. Andrei Vlasov, who deserted Stalin after the German invasion of the USSR and went over to the Nazis in order to help overthrow Russian Communism in favor of a new, free Russia. One of the founders of the Russian Liberation Army (ROA), Vlasov was damned by the Reds and not entirely taken seriously by his allies the Nazis until it was too late. Only in the last months of the war did the Germans finally arm and deploy Vlasov’s forces to fight the Red Army. What might’ve happened had Hitler welcomed all dissidents against Stalinism can only be speculated upon.

The story is told not only in outstanding wartime newsreel and combat footage of the period, but also in numerous personal interviews with people who both knew him and are recognized commentators on the era. A solidly-researched film that presents a still little known but important aspect of the overall Russo-German War of 1941-45, the film provides the clearest picture to date of this difficult subject, which resonated anew during 1990-92 with the fall of the former Soviet Union, and does so again today with renewed East-West tensions in the 21st Century as Russia struggles again to find its place in a changing world

Vlasov: General For Two Devils/Russian Volunteers in Hitler’s Army