This scene towards the end of part 8 of “Seventeen Moments of Spring” is superb. Heinrich Mueller (played by Leonid Sergeyevich Bronevoy) is just now learning that the Russian agent they’ve been after is our hero, Stirlitz. He already had suspicions and had acted on them, but also didn’t think Stirlitz really was the one. His coming to grips with his new knowledge is excellent acting. He’s alternately surprised, disappointed, disbelieving, irritable, and more. It takes time for it all to sink in, and the movie doesn’t rush. It gives us time to watch it happen. There is nothing trite about the way it’s played.
This movie is unlike most Russian war movies I’ve seen (and unlike most American ones, too, that I know of) in that it doesn’t demonize the Germans. Mueller and the others are played as very real people, not only in this scene but throughout. Well, we’ve only watched to the end of part 8, so I can’t speak for parts 9-12 yet.
BTW, in American movies the Germans would usually be made to speak English with a fake German accent. If in this movie they’re speaking Russian with a fake German accent, I’m not able to tell. Nor can I tell if the Americans speak Russian with a fake American accent.
The screenshot above is from the version I got from Memocast. If you click on it, you will go to a YouTube version that isn’t as good, and on which the aspect ratio is messed up. I’m glad I’ve been able to watch it in a better quality version than that.