Enemy at the Gates Review
by Tim Wick

Saving Private Ryan, as I've often remarked in public (and probably on this web site) may well have been the definitive World War II film of all time. Inexplicably beaten by Shakespeare in Love at the Oscars, the film managed to combine the scale of the carnage with the individual impact better than any film made before and most likely better than any film that will be made in the future. It is the only film I have ever found with a 100% fresh rating on the Rotten Tomatoes web site. Such a pillar of modern filmmaking becomes the yardstick with which films like Enemy at the Gates are measured. To do so is unfair, but inevitable.

The opening sequences of Enemy at the Gates recall the chaotic, bloody landing at Normandy that opened Saving Private Ryan. Though it is clear this was the filmmakers intent, there is something about the opening that does not carry the emotional resonance of Saving Private Ryan. Such scenes are important as we try to understand the scale of the conflict that was World War II but there was something slightly more sterilized (if such a thing is possible) about this scene.

But the film is not about the larger battle, it is about a tiny, but very important battle that was taking place in the midst of the big one. Russian farmer Vassily Zaitsev (Jude Law) is a Russian Sharpshooter at the battle of Stalingrad. He becomes the focus of the propaganda campaign when he shows his skill as a sniper. The Germans, who feel their grip on Stalingrand slipping, must bring in a sharpshooter of their own, Major Koenig (Ed Harris).

While bombs drop around the them, these two men play their patient game while their leaders hold their breaths. In a very real way, momentum will swing to the side that wins this tiny battle. Winter approaches for the Germans and the Russians, who have an almost endless supply of men but can't even manage to arm them all, know that if Stalingrad falls, their country will most likely follow.

I can't describe how refreshing I found the idea of a World War II film that was not told from an American point of view. Something we often forget in this country is the fact that we didn't fight the war alone. In fact, we arrived at the party rather late in the game. Our country may have suffered because of the many young men who failed to come home, but we did not suffer the devastation that those in the midst of the fighting were subjected to. The ruined streets of Stalingrad, with it's statues of Lenin and Stalin lying dismembered on the rubble, was something I've not seen before. Strangely enough, the appearance of Stalingrad bore an eerie resemblance to the Soviet world of the early 90's when those same statues were once again torn down in a time of peace.

The major problem with Enemy at the Gates is that it is two films and only one of them works particularly well. I could grouse about the numerous lucky breaks Vassily has during his duel with the German, but in spite of that the duel between the two marksmen is compelling. Harris' Koenig is introduced as a cold and cruel arm of the third Reich, but we are shown some glimpses into the human behind the legend later in the film. His mission is to kill Vassily and he will do what must be done to accomplish that mission. But he is not without compassion (at least at first) for some or sentimentality for himself. Harris is one of my favorite actors and he manages to make a role that could have easily been one dimensional something a little bit more.

The final confrontation and resolution between these two men is what makes the movie worth seeing in my mind. Harris and Law make all the right choices.

The second film is where this movie falls a little flat. For some reason, the filmmakers chose to slap a love triangle into the mix. I'm not really sure what they were trying to accomplish. The human element of the film is easily achieved through many other smaller and more effective ways. For some reason, however, there is a budding romance between a young Jewish soldier Tania (The Mummy's Rachel Weisz) and Vassily. Vassily's friend, political officer Danilov, is also in love with Tania and we are treated to a number of scenes that stop the action of the film dead in it's tracks. It was as if the filmmakers wanted to make sure women would enjoy the movie as much as men. I saw the movie with two women and they felt, as I did, that the love story added nothing.

Russian women did fight alongside Russian men during the war, so this was not a frustration for me. I could even accept a romance could develop under such conditions. The romance that did develop felt strained and wasn't helped by the fact that the already beautiful Weisz always managed to have dust and dirt on her face in a way that somehow made her more attractive.

The film cleverly steers clear of politics, choosing not to attack Communism but simply to observe that the Russians were fighting the same enemy we were. In a moment near the end of the film, Danilov observes that equality as Russia views it is an impossibility, but this comment is not meant as an impeachment of Communism. Rather, it is an impeachment of the failings of men in any political system.

While I will certainly see better films about World War II (though not the upcoming Jerry Bruckheimer production of Pearl Harbor if I don't miss my guess), I think that Enemy at the Gates is worth a look even when it becomes bogged down in it's ill conceived romance. It is worth it to remember that men AND women fought and died to stop Hitler.

Enemy at the Gates

Three and a half Beakers
(out of five)

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