An exercise in extreme tension

Rating: 8/10 (7 February 2016)

Jean Jacques Annaud's Enemy At The Gates makes a harrowing impact on the WWII genre, with a scope and vision that successfully transports us to the nightmarish battle of Stalingrad, near the tail end of an era of never ending bloodshed and terror. The large scale battle scenes which usually populate this type of film have been distilled into a much more intimate and exciting style of confrontation: elite sniper warfare. In the hollow, ash laden shell of a once great city, Russian patriot and expert sharpshooter Vassily (a barely acceptable, miscast Jude Law) tries to survive a nerve rattling battle of both the will and the gun against the German's answer to his legendary tactics, icy Major Koenig (a primal Ed Harris). Another man, Danilov (Joseph Fiennes) is a brainy scholar who spins tales of his friend Vassily's heroic exploits to stir Russia into a frenzy effort in the desperate final weeks of the war. The two are steadfast friends and vital assets to both each other and their country, until of course, a girl comes between them. Tania (Rachel Weisz) is a Jewish soldier who falls deeply in love with Vassily, boldly acted by her in a powerfully affecting sex scene that shows what passion Rachel is capable of in her work. She has the skill to turn a character that's purposefully written to fail the Bechtel test miserably into something more than the script ever envisioned, and is one of the best actresses working today. There's a grouchy supporting turn from Bob Hoskins as an infamous military higher up, and a brief but memorable appearance by Ron Perlman as a disillusioned Russian soldier who's taken enough crap and seen too much. What makes this film such a winner is the excruciatingly suspenseful sniper battle between Vassily and Koenig, each a coiled viper of awaiting violence, scanning the horizon along with the camera, breaths drawn alongside the audience, ready to spring into explosive action and knock our socks off in one of the most impressive wartime duels in cinema. It's been said that the purest form of war is one on one. This film takes that notion and runs laps with it, throwing unending tension at us that doesn't let us go from its vice grip till the blood flows in tandem with our ragged exhales, long pent up in clammy apprehension.