Enemy at the Gates 2001
This isn’t a movie that was ever likely to be made (at least in English). It is the story of a Russian sniper during the siege of Stalingrad in World War 2. Most Americans don’t even know about this huge battle that killed millions of people and represented the turning point of the war, enabling D-Day and ultimately an allied victory. But you certainly don’t find that out in the movie. Instead it’s a pretty simple hunter-and-the-hunted movie as the superior German sharpshooter matches wits against the underdog Russian peasant sharpshooter.
The backdrop is important and it is presented probably pretty honestly. Staggering numbers of Russian soldiers died in Stalingrad. Recruits are rushed off the train into battle, half of them without weapons (instructed to follow someone with a gun and pick it up when that guy is shot). The odds of being killed look like they are about 90%. And during a retreat the Russians are mowed down by their own troops for being deserters. Make the odds about 95%. So what does that mean? It means everyone in the movie is probably going to die. And so you have to wonder what the point is. Meanwhile people are starving, subjected to horrific conditions, jews are being rounded up and sent to death camps, and even the bombed out buildings are bombed again and again.
Amid that they have this little David and Goliath story with the sharpshooters, toss in a love triangle, etc. This is essentially a cute little movie but under horrible conditions. With thousands dying every day it’s hard to get worked up about the death of one more Russian, let alone wondering who will get the girl. I don’t think we get a careful look at how good a sniper the Russian is; he has one very good day where he shoots five people (using his brain as much as his bullets) and we really don’t see much else except that his tally soon increases to over 50.
The acting is good by Joseph Fiennes (of Shakespeare in Love) and Jude Law (who does well playing someone who is *not* an upper-class intellectual) and the romantic interest. Ed Harris is a cardboard cutout of Aryan prowess. Maybe this movie needed a prequel to introduce the audience to Stalingrad first before telling such a small story. Instead it’s as if they are introducing you to the Holocaust by showing you Life Is Beautiful. The background is so horrific you’ll have a hard time worrying about what’s in the foreground. And ultimately the central story greatly pales compared to that background. I’ll give this a B.