Great spectacle/special effects; weak script

Rating: Null/10 (21 March 2001)

In some ways this movie was like "Titanic" -- the great production values (special effects, sets, spectacle, etc.) are alone worth the price of admission and offset the poor script, resulting in an average overall average-plus rating.
I was not bothered by the lack of authentic accents. Nor did the introductory history lesson with the war zone map of Europe bother me (remember "Casablanca"?).
I may have missed a few things, but here is a list of criticisms/suggestions:
¶ the warfare scenes were effective --even wondrous-- but unlike "Saving Private Ryan," they were more antiseptic. In "Ryan" you had more of a feeling for those maimed. Many were not killed outright; they were wounded, were left in pain and disfigured. Not in "Enemy at the Gates."
¶ the sniper scenes all (except the last one) ended abruptly after a missed shot. It was like a work whistle blew, and everyone called off the fight and went home.
¶ maybe I missed a lot, but I was confused about whose side the little kid was on and what he was about.
¶ I don't mind the film focusing on the sniping duel and the love triangle, with the Battle of Stalingrad as a backdrop, but I wished more time was spent on explaining the strengths and weakness of the two sides, the supply lines, the tactics, the importance of perhaps the most critical battle of World War II, certainly the most destructive.
¶ apropos of the above point, I would have expected to see more about the sub-freezing temperature and the deprivation and misery on both sides. The Germans, for example, were forced to eat killed horses, and eventually had to dig up the carcasses of dead horses to eat the bones.
¶ the picture actually bored me some. The sniping duels were repetitious. How long do you want to watch motionless snipers buried in dirt and newspapers? The constant darkness of the scenes turned me off. The characters (except Harris) weren't particularly engaging or endearing (blame the script). I kept looking at my watch.
¶ ***SLIGHT SPOILER*** I didn't mind the nighttime public love scene, but it would have been nice if some romantic buildup was given to it. The shy girl practically suddenly raped the guy. She seemed to spend more time panting there than the total time in all their previous exchanges.