Mano a Mano, Sniper to Sniper

Rating: 8/10 (13 May 2010)

"Enemy at the Gates" is set in the second World War, on the border between the Soviet Union and Germany (actually, more in the Soviet Union, as the Germans have reached Stalingrad). But the story is of one man, a farm boy who has grown up to be a sharp-shooter. We see his skill, his love, and his adversary.
This film is fairly interesting because, from America's point of view, neither Germany or Russia was really the "good guy", even if we officially had Russia on our side. But here we focus on a man, who like any other soldier or even any human, has the same struggles and feelings. So, we can't help but feel sympathy for him, even if we want to dislike the Russians. (I, for one, do not identify any one person with their country, but it's easy to do.) The commissar tries to paint things on a national level, saying that the sniper conflict is "not just a war of countries, but class struggle" because the Russian is a farm boy and the German went to good schools. How much any Soviet citizen or official took this sort of view seriously, I don't know. To me, it sounds flaky. The Soviet Union had very little to do with class struggle after the first few years, and I'm fairly certain everyone knew that. But, I could be wrong.
Another piece of wisdom bestowed in the film is: "In the forest, the wolf lives for three years, the donkey for nine." They explain this means that the more useful creature ought to live longer, justifying the uneducated getting sent to war so the educated can keep society running. There are so many things that can be said about this... I don't even know where to begin. But it's very interesting.