A wasted opportunity

Rating: Null/10 (12 June 2006)

I was just reading the superb book by William Craig 'Enemy At The Gate' when they announced they were shooting the movie so my expectations were really high, since there is SO MUCH material and SO MANY characters in the book that covers the Stalingrad's battle.
As in some latest historical or 'fiction-historical' productions there had been some good examples on how to make the story flow between so many characters intersecting each other, or sharing just a common place if not a common time. I should not say this is a bad movie as for the actors or the effects, but to me it lacks completely of inspiration. All the rich material from the book has been erased to give space to a kind of stereotyped single handed duel: my advise to the producers is to change the title in 'High Noon at Stalingrad'; to the viewers, please read this important and beautiful book: you'll then know what I mean!
As an after thought, it is NOT enough to use the flying past bullets' effect after 'Saving Private Ryan' to create a realistic WWII story! After reading others' comments, I remembered there had been some beautiful movies about WWII in Russia: the horrific 'Idi i smotri - Go and See' or 'Stalingrad'; the great Tarkowsky's 'Childhood of Ivan'; even the fictitious Peckinpah's 'Cross of Iron', all were much superior and effective in taking the audience to the front lines and its horrors.