Gripping from beginning to end.

Rating: 9/10 (6 August 2001)

One of the biggest surprises for me was the epilogue which flashed across the screen. It said that the film was based on the true life story of Sergeant Vassili Zaitsev. How much was true and how much sprang from the imagination of the scriptwriter's imagination matters not. The fact remains it's a war film that's up there with the best. It's another film about the battle for Stalingrad, and there'll probably be a lot more to in the future, because this event was a turning point in favour of Russia and its allies in WW11. One can't help but compare this film with the German production "Stalingrad" (1993) because both were produced on the grand scale. "Enemy at the Gates" is a better production. I felt more involved as I watched the frightened young Russian soldiers some without guns stumbling on towards the enemy, snatching a rifle from a fallen comrade and charging into the barrage of fire. The harrowing scenes which followed with bodies lying bleeding in the churned-up mud were heart-rending. I guess a lot of the set was put together using computer technology. Some of the distant background looked a bit unreal, but the over-all effect was truly amazing on the giant screen. All the battle scenes were believable as we watched the slaughter of the Russian troops who understandably had lost all hope of victory. But battles can be won with words as well as guns. Propaganda can be a powerful weapon. Young Vassili a superior marksman starts to pick off some of the German Officers. The news (plus the distribution of propaganda pamphlets) starts to spread rapidly among the troops and the general population. The morale of the Russians starts to improve as Vassili is painted as a hero. Jude Law is likeable as Vassili the former shepherd boy now a national hero. To win the battle for Stalingrad the Germans must destroy this hero worship. Into the scene comes the top Nazi marksman Major Erwin Konig (a splendid role for Ed Harris) whose sole mission is to find and kill Vassili. The ensuing scenes are intensely gripping as the opposing marksmen seek each other out amid the ruins of a burnt out department store. I found the display models particularly scary as I wasn't certain whether perhaps they were living beings about to spring, and the glass reflection scene had me almost at breaking point. There is some love interest in the film. And this was necessary I think to give some relief to the pervading horror of those dreadful days. The film I thought gave a fairly balanced view of the German and Russian attitudes. There was brutality on both sides. Desperation, too. I came away from the film with the gunfire still ringing in my ears and believing that I too had just been through the hell of Stalingrad.