The Best War Film of All Time - Enemy at the Gate

Rating: 9/10 (21 March 2019)

Saving Private Ryan had been my favorite war film of all time. It has been replaced by this film. That was not a very easy task to complete, but the director, actors, and production crew of this film accomplished the impossible; surpassing the bruatlity of D-Day and the American invasion of Normandy as seen in Private Ryan, the previous champion of outstanding beginning sequences for a war film.
The opening sequences of Enemy at the Gate are far more brutal than Saving Private Ryan, and the visceral audacity of giving one soldier a rifle and a second soldier instructions to pick it up after the first soldier is dead is far beyond the call of duty of the American soldiers in Private Ryan, where each soldier was well-armed. The characterizations in the film are unforgettable, and the actors involved will never be able to surpass these roles in their entire acting careers. The story is first-rate, and the supporting cast is impeccable. The music by James Horner is one of his best scores as well. And I loved Hoskins as Khurshchev. I will always consider Saving Private Ryan one of my top 100 films of all time because of its incomparable mother at home scene losing so many sons in the same war, but for action sequences, suspense, and a study in survival, it is surpassed by Enemy at the Gate. A film not to be missed.