German invasion of Russia in 1942/43, snipers and lovers via for screen time.

Rating: Null/10 (6 January 2002)

SPOILERS - "Enemy At The Gates" is a good movie, I rate it "8" of 10. Like "Titanic" and "Pearl Harbor", it is a historically significant time and place, with a couple of very interesting human stories for the movie. Jude Law is a farm boy who is naturally talented with a rifle. In an early invasion scene, he quickly picks off 7 German officers, each bullet through the head. In fact, every sniper in this film shot every victim through the head. They used "head seeking" bullets.
He gets so good, and is demoralizing the Germans who have to quickly promote more officers each day, they send their best sniper, played by Ed Harris, specifically to get Law. Meanwhile, Law and the Rachel Weitz character develop an attraction which develops into a love affair. Sex among the other soldiers at night. Well done, I might add, almost had me in a sweat too. Each day, Law and Harris try to figure where the other will be to get the jump. They both use a boy as an informant, but his loyalty is with the Russians. He pays for it.
Weitz gets wounded with schrapnel, is taken to a hospital for possible recovery. Law and Harris face down a final time, Harris gets his bullet through the head in the middle of a rail yard, in broad daylight, after he had been so stealthy for so long. That part didn't seem consistent. I would have preferred both of them in hiding, scanning through their respective scopes, suddenly each sees the other for a split second, then Harris getting shot through his own scope, like we saw in Saving Private Ryan.
And lastly, Law finds Weitz in the hospital, she will be ok, and we know Germany did not capture Stalingrad. The DVD was very good, both in picture and the Dolby 5.1 sound track. There are some extras but I did not watch any of them. Good movie, interesting historical perspective, good acting by all, a little slow in some middle spots, but better than the average movie.