I sympathized with the Russian who lived. He was an innocent, sent off to war, despite not really being suited for it. Moreover, captured and locked in with the other guy, who, no matter what you think of him, can not be a pleasant person to be jailed with. He was slightly incompetent, and bumbled, but was genuinely kind and wanted to help people. Kinda like a puppy. he was even nice to his captors, and befriended Dina. I was also affected by his simple desire to live. He wasn't going to go crazy, or inconvenience anyone, but he still wanted to live so much. The dilemma of 'get Dina in trouble or get killed' was touching, especially the way he dealt with it. No agonizing over the decision, just the simple truth that he couldn't let her get in trouble because of him. He was a truly good person, and I'm always a sucker for those. I honestly don't know why I'm writing all this.
Also! Dina was awesome. She was very much twelve, with all the selfishness and whimsicality that implies. However, she was also very mature in some ways, due to the situation with her father and brother. She understood many hard truths about life. However, despite her fathers hatred for Russians, she was able to form a friendship with one, a strong enough relationship to risk becoming an outcast to save his life.
What struck me about this movie was how real and believable the characters were. Some I liked, some i didn't, but i believed in them all.