"There is only one real sin, and that is to persuade oneself that the second-best is anything but the second-best."
-- Doris Lessing
-- Doris Lessing
The reason people may have overlooked Enemy at the Gates is easy to pinpoint: Saving Private Ryan. Coming out less than 3 years after that movie, Enemy at the Gates was definitely the lesser of the two, but that certainly doesn't make it bad; that's merely high praise for Saving Private Ryan. Enemy at the Gates was roundly criticized for a lack of historical accuracy, but critics probably wouldn't have expected a history lesson at the movies if it wasn't for Saving Private Ryan's dubious claim to historical accuracy. To wrap up the comparison, they are two very different movies, with Enemy at the Gates being much more about the duel between Russian sniper Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law) who's been built up by the USSR's propaganda machine to raise morale, and the German sniper (Ed Harris) sent to take him out, than the almost episodic plots of Saving Private Ryan. The subplots of a love interest for Zaitsev and the jealousy it creates in his Russian "handler" feel tacked on and unnecessary. |
The deviations from historical accuracy (and indeed, realistic sniper tactics) serve to heighten the tension as the two snipers stalk each other across a ruined, deserted Stalingrad. The interesting choices in casting (Law, Harris, Ron Perlman, Rachel Weisz and Joseph Fiennes) for a movie involving Russians and Germans do distract slightly, with some (Bob Hoskins as Khrushchev) veering off into over-the-top stereotypes, but once you get past the mis-matched accents, everyone involved does a good enough job, with Perlman's brief role being especially memorable.
The music and sets are all well done. The geography of Stalingrad all feels a little hazy, with each area's relationship to the others never feeling that concrete. The movie would have you believe that there were two types of soldiers in the Battle for Stalingrad: snipers and targets. After the opening scene, there's very little in the way of ground troops, artillery or vehicles. I understand this is a movie about snipers, but some of those things as a backdrop would've made the whole of the movie feel more real.
Ultimately, the movie doesn't do much to surprise you with its ending, and tries to morph itself unsuccessfully into a love story. If it had focused on the two competing men and their completely different mindsets, it could have been truly great.
Ultimately, the movie doesn't do much to surprise you with its ending, and tries to morph itself unsuccessfully into a love story. If it had focused on the two competing men and their completely different mindsets, it could have been truly great.
A somewhat generic, if ambitious WWII movie that makes the curious choice of selective accents