good movie, better history lesson

Rating: Null/10 (9 May 2001)

The movie was good, but not as good as the history lesson trying to be taught. Enemy at the Gates to me appeared to be an attempt at showing the Americans watching the film how Russia fought their wars. Soldiers were conscripted not drafted. A minor change in words, I know, but the use of words affects the morale of the "soldier". The whole war of attrition idea of overwhelm the enemy with numbers as opposed to the idea of a war being fought with movements, ambushes, and other strategies. The movie uses Saving Private Ryan realism cinematography to try to depict this. Also, it shows the use of propaganda officers in the Russian army to boost unit moral. The whole sniper vs. sniper part of the movie was interesting, graphic, and kept the audience on the edge of their seat with intense suspense, but I don't think that was the main point of the movie. My congratulations go the actors though. Harris, Law, Fiennes, and Weisz acted well and supported the story well. Weisz and Law did exceptionally well in portraying the citizen soldiers fighting for their homeland.