Startling and captivating

Rating: 9/10 (23 December 2005)

Startling and captivating from the very beginning right up to the end. Jean-Jacques Annaud certainly knows how to make movies or more precisely: how to tell a story by means of a motion picture.He is a true artist who's work can easily be compared to that of an exceptional painter or brilliant novelist.The grim essence of war and the sense of reality is rendered in such a convincing manner that the movie sends chills up the viewer's spine.There is also a great amount of tension created by the contradiction between the ongoing violence and the patient waiting of the two individual snipers who realize that certain death awaits at least one of them. The acting is superb and to me Ed Harris, in particular, portrays his role as the cool and collected but nevertheless, with subtle undertones, menacing major König, with outstanding excellence.