The movie, of course, deserves all superlatives it has received. I only want to add something to the dispute on whether it is realistic. Some talk about extermination(?) camps that POW's were sent to and that most were shot on the spot(wha?). This is ridiculous, only 10% died due to the harsh conditions in the LABOUR camps (remember it was wartime and nobody was living really comfortably?). Yes, it's still a large number, but most of them returned home. Now, about integrating in the soviet society, I don't know how realistic was that, but presumably a POW who had a child with a local and adopted the communist ideology (yes, it's possible that some folks may sympathize with the plight of the oppressed) might be set free without suspicion that he would be a spy.