Enemy At The Gates

I saw this film last night. I thought it was a very enthralling picture. Full review from <a href=http://pub4.ezboard.com/bnicktheshadow>my currently graphics-deficient board</a>:

SUMMARY

During the siege of Stalingrad in October 1942, Soviet sniper Vassili Zaitzev (Jude Law) becomes a symbolic hero for his country, due to the work of Danilov (Joseph Fiennes), a political officer and propaganda specialist. The Nazis respond by sending their top marksman, Major Konig (Ed Harris) to hunt him down.


JUST TELL ME IF IT'S GOOD OR BAD

Terrific.


PROS

Enemy At The Gates is an involving experience that in many ways, follows in the footsteps of the successes of the Spielberg masterpiece Saving Private Ryan.

It is important to understand that Enemy At The Gates is by no means a film about the siege of Stalingrad, just as how Saving Private Ryan was not about the Normandy invasion. Much like Ryan, it takes a major climax in the Second World War and does not overambitiously attempt to build a story around it, but rather use the setting as a jumping-off point for a more unified plot. Stalingrad serves as a setting within which the conflict between Vassili and Konig occurs; and in that respect, the film certainly triumphs. The muddy brown, gray and green of the palette - also much like that of Saving Private Ryan - combines with dark and ruinous sets to create an effectively hellish hunting ground.

The backdrop of the siege of Stalingrad is technically spectacular; notable is the opening establishing sequence where boatloads of troops are sent across the Volga in the midst of the Nazi assault. Also, a great deal of the events in the film occur during the perpetual airstrikes on the city. Along with that comes excellent sound effects work bathing most of the film with the sounds of buildings crumbling and bombs being dropped, akin to the scenes in U-571 where the submarine crew remains silent as they hear depth charges being detonated all around them.

The central characters in Enemy At The Gates are solidly portrayed. Vassili is a convincing hero with a great degree of depth that is augmented by Jude Law's acting. Ed Harris is absolutely chilling as the villain of the film. Rachel Weisz plays the role of Tania, a Jewish woman who is Vassili's love interest, in a way that makes her character easy to care about. Bob Hoskins is very convincing as Nikita Krushchev in the brief screentime during which he appears. Most impressive is Joseph Fiennes as Danilov. Danilov is a terrific character whose ambition, vision, jealousy and compulsive lying drive his character as a wonderful foil in stark contrast to Vassili, the latter being a true hero on the field while Danilov confines his own heroism to publishing overstated images to stir the Soviet people.

The actual sniper work in this film is probably its greatest achievement. Vassili and Konig's strategic cat-and-mouse game of death is consistently suspenseful as well as intellectual, as one constantly tries to get a step ahead of the other. The way these scenes are shot and directed is stirring, as the two snipers patiently wait for one another to make his move and plan accordingly.

What also works in Enemy At The Gates is that it does not take sides politically. Sure, the protagonists are Soviets and the antagonist is a Nazi officer; however, the film does not hesitate to note on several occasions that the socialist environment under Stalin is in many ways also cruel and ruthless. Also, Konig is not portrayed as purely evil simply because he is a Nazi; as the audience we are frequently reminded that he is also acting under orders from his superiors.

The map effect in the beginning of the film establishing the setting of the siege on Stalingrad is also notable. (By "map effect", I am referring to an animated map that shows a certain route of travel or invasion, such as the flight montages in the Indiana Jones films, or the blood seeping over the map of France in The Messenger.) Here in Enemy At The Gates, we see the Nazi expansion blackening Europe on a curved map like a section of a globe. The map animation alone captures just how immense the Third Reich has become by the time the film begins, and how crucial Stalingrad is to the outcome of the war.

So, is Enemy At The Gates on the level of Saving Private Ryan? Not really. This is not an epic masterpiece, due to its limited scope, but it is still an absolutely great film in its own right.


CONS

The first thing that sticks out is the use of the English language in this film. Being in the English language, we as the audience are obviously asked to believe that the characters are really speaking Russian or German where appropriate - which is done in many films, and usually works quite well. However, there are two major problems with this film with respect to this pitfall of believability and authenticity in which the English language is taken perhaps too far. The first is a scene when Danilov is dictating to Vassili the latter's responses to his fan mail, and guides him through spelling certain words letter by letter - in English. The second is the fact that Konig communicates quite fluently with a Russian boy - it can be assumed that Konig speaks both German and Russian quite well, but the lack of any explanation for this ease of communication is at least worth pointing out.

Another problem is James Horner's orchestral score. By itself, the score sets an appropriate tone for the movie, with harmonic undertones akin to Horner's Braveheart score and thematic melodies that reference, if not blatantly rip off John Williams' work in Schindler's List. In the context of the film, the score is excessive. Because of the patience and suspense in the scenes where Vassili or Konig silently do their sharpshooting, it is only appropriate that those scenes are entirely silent except for the distant sounds of approaching airstrikes. While in most cases, those scenes are left alone, some scenes are scored, and the presence of the music alone detracts from the tension.

I did not have any problem with the romantic subplot - in fact, it worked convincingly and unintrusively - but it is indeed true that it bears little relevance to the central story at hand, even though it adds depth to some of the characters.


OVERALL

It's not an instant classic - but in terms of a suspensefully captivating sniper movie, Enemy At The Gates hits the mark. At the time of this writing, it stands as the best film of 2001.

You about said it all, but I'll add or add-on just a bit.

The movie was quite good with only one scene that was really out of place - the sex scene. Not that I mind a good sex scene or a peek at Rachel Weisz' (have I got this name right??) derriere, but the scene was completely out of place and entirely too long. The entire theatre seemed to grow restless just waiting for it to end and the action (the war and fighting type) to continue.

The aerial attacks of Stukas and other bombers were well done, wonderful effects.

And that's my less-than-two-cents.

[Snowdog]

It wasn't too bad. Looking at it twenty years on I don't think it qualifies as a 'classic'. I still prefer watching the 1993 Stalingrad movie over this one.