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Rating: 1/10 (5 February 2004)

Although the special effects were very realistic, way too much emphasis was given to the Russian snipers dual with the German sniper. A truly great book, "Enemy at the Gates, The Battle for Stalingrad" tells the full story of the German 6th army's successful invasion deep into Russia until they were stopped at Stalingrad. While the movie concentrated on 2 central figures (the 2 snipers), the book goes much more into detail on how the Germans failed to support their flanks in the large areas outside of Stalingrad, poorly protected by their Hungarian allies. The fierce fighting to take control of the city lasted many weeks, from August 1942 thru January 1943 but it was the successful counterattacks outside the city that surrounded the 6th army and spelled its doom that was the real story of this battle. This was the most important battle of World War 2 that totally changed the momentum of the war and if you watched this movie you missed all these important facts. What happened to the 6th army after they were surrounded by the Russians and were ordered to "hold fast" and not retreat from Stalingrad while their army was still strong enough to break out and make a run for it would have made for a much more enjoyable and educational film. If you do not know the full story of Stalingrad, you can watch this film and not have a clue how the Russians end up winning this key battle (although you do learn which sniper wins the dual). If you are going to make a movie with the exact same title as the book ("Enemy at the Gates"), it would help if you followed the book a lot closer than this movie does. 2 stars out of 4 in my opinion. I was horribly disappointed in the film for those reasons. If it had followed the book, it could have been so much better.