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Enemy At The Gates

2001, Movie, R, 133 mins

Enemy At The Gates: Review

ENEMY AT THE GATES
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SAVING PRIVATE RYAN refreshed a tired genre by throwing out old war-movie conventions, but it was only a matter of time before its innovations became clichés all over again. And sure enough, this fact-based WWII romantic drama opens with a brutal, real-time battle full of semi-incomprehensible dialogue and first-person point-of-view shots that looks startlingly like RYAN’s visceral Omaha Beach landing. Autumn, 1942: Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law), a real-life soldier at the apocalyptic Battle of Stalingrad, attracts the attention of ambitious young propaganda officer Danilov (Joseph Fiennes). The fate of the industrial city marks a critical juncture for both the Soviets and the invading Germans; if it collapses, so does the will of the people. The demoralized Russians need a hero, so true-believer Danilov, finding favor with merciless Soviet officer Nikita Khrushchev (Bob Hoskins), elevates crack-shot Vassili to the role. Vassili's prowess as a sniper quickly impresses the nation; he's Joe DiMaggio with a Mosin-Nagent rifle. Naturally, young translator Tania (Rachel Weisz) falls in love with Vassili, and Danilov, just as naturally, falls in love with Tania — all played against the backdrop of a world at war (it’s hard not to think in cliches after some two hours of listening to lines like "It seems your destinies are entwined"). More interesting, however, is the war of nerves waged by the Nazis' own star sniper, philosophical Bavarian aristocrat Major Konig (Ed Harris), who arrives to hunt Vassili. Photographed as harsh spectacle in brown and gray with unfailingly overcast skies, the story is affecting and suspenseful enough when focusing on Vassili, the humble peasant youth, and his patrician adversary playing a chess-like game of cat-and-mouse. And the romance feels natural, though virtually every endearment sounds ridiculous out of context. ("Was I snoring?" he asks. "Like a pig," she sighs.) Be forewarned, however, of a child's gruesome fate, and of a major character who embodies — remarkably — the Nazi stereotype of the "treacherous Jew" to a tee. leave a comment --Frank Lovece
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