10 War Movie Plot Twists That Nobody Saw Coming

10. Irina Is Shot By Her Fellow Russians - Stalingrad

The quintessential anti-war film, 1993's Stalingrad is unashamedly desolating. Following a platoon of German soldiers on the Eastern Front, Joseph Vilsmaier's picture captures the notion of war as hell in unflinching clarity. It's an exemplary movie, but it's an emotionally exhausting experience.

True to form, Stalingrad saves its most unexpectedly devastating gut punch for last. The soldiers form a tentative bond with Irina - a female Russian soldier - across the course of the film. This bond progresses to the point where Thomas Kretschmann's Hans von Witzland has literally sworn to protect her by the film's ending.

Stalingrad's conclusion sees the disillusioned pair along with Dominique Horwitz's Fritz Reiser silently trudging through the snow attempting to escape their hellish environs. They are finally alerted to a sign of human life as a Russian flare illuminates the winter sky. All initially appears to be well as Irina rushes towards the signal, shouting to her people in her mother tongue.

That is of course, until the young woman is gunned down and instantly killed by a volley of Soviet gunfire - there isn't even time to blink in shock. Even in the midst of Stalingrad's inescapably morbid aura, Irina's sudden and brutal death is more than worthy of inclusion on this list.