Americans crack me up.

Rating: 7/10 (23 June 2003)

I love hearing comments about things the average American knows next to nothing about.
A) The movie was loosely based on a short segment of the novel "Enemy at the Gates" (which referred to the Wermacht approaching the city) by William Craig, in which the duel between Vaili Zaitsev and the German Uber sniper is played out in the course of a page and a half.
B) The truly epic proportions and consequences of The Battle for Stalingrad are under-appreciated by most non-Europeans. At one point, the Wermacht had the Red army backed up to the Volga in a stretch of land a mere 100 meters wide and less than a mile long. Had the Wermacht been able to drive the Russians from their beach head (the boat landing)and into the river, that would have been it. The Volga had always been the final objective of Hitler's war machine in the East. When Bob Hoskins said "If this city falls the whole country will collapse", he was not exaggerating. Therefore, due to the 'heroic' example of Vasili Zaitsez, which agruably could have been an inspiriation point for the embattled Soviets and their Red army, it could have caused them to take pride in their country and Army and defeat the battle-hardened 6th army (the line between fact and Party propaganda has always been blurry, so it is possible Vasili Zaitsev could have never existed). If the Red army had not launched Operation Uranus, which slashed through the less-than-reliable German allies guarding the city's flanks (the Italins, Rumanians and other axis lesser powers) and cut off the the 6th, Stalingrad would have fallen and at that point, the Wermacht would have been able to regroup its forces and smash the Red army and we would be living in an entirely different world. Until the fall of Communism, the exact death count in Stalingrad was a forbiden subject and it has since been estimated to be over a million KIA russians. The average survival time for a fresh Russian private in Stalingrad was less than 24 hours.
C) In response to the statement that the scope of the Battle for Stalingrad was not evident in the movie, you have to consider that by the time Zaitsev had been elevated to master sniper, the worst of the battle had already occured and it had devolved into small-unit level street fighting. The prescence of snipers on both sides was a constant concern and your life could have been snuffed out in an instant. The scope of the battle was constantly demonstrated throughout the movie by the level of devestation inflicted on the once beautiful and modern city. Keep in mind that prior to the 6th army's advance INTO the city, it had undergone the largest artillery and air bombardment of the war to date.
C) I want Americans to understand 1 thing. In WW2, the approximate loss of American fightng men was 500,000. A half a million. Sounds like alot. About the population of a medium sized US city(Mesa, Arizona boasts a population of 330,000 in season). On the Russian side, losses numbered closer to 16,000,000 civilian and military. Think about that. For every GI, marine, airman or sailor the US lost in WW2, the soviets lost approximatley 32 men, women, or children. 16 million, thats about the combined total of both NYC and LA. Incredible, huh?? Also, the Red army, which came back from what would be intolerable losses to Americans, at the outset of the war, was able to turn its fortunes around and push the finest army of it's day from the Volga to Berlin...back over 1,000 miles!!! So, next time an American says "We won the war" think to yourself that all we did was take enough heat off the russians to help THEM win the war. Chew on that.
D) The love triangle portrayed between Zaitsev and Tatiyana was an obvious attempt to draw women into the theatre. However, it is a well known fact that women fought in the Red Army alongside their male counter-parts and ANYWHERE you put men and women into extraordinary situations such as this, love/sex/romance is gonna happen
Overall, I felt that Enemy at the Gates was an excellent movie despite its oversights in editing, (on more than one occasion the same 'extra' was seen falling from the same wound). I also belive that it would have been more appropriatley entitled "War of the Rats" (Rattenkrieg in german)a novel released in '99 (or '97 not sure) which was exclusively about the sniper duel in question. I went to see this movie expecting an epic story about Stalingrad. Initially, I was disapointed to see a movie about a small number of people in the most epic battle in modern history. However, upon buying the VHS and watching it again, I appreciated the movie for what it was. An excellent story of an epic struggle between 2 marksman.