This film got me 130 minutes on the edge of my seat

Rating: 8/10 (18 February 2001)

I am from Germany (so please be gentle with my english)and i was very intersted seeing a big european movie (a lot of german money were involved in this production)about the WW2. Stalingrad was a turning point for the war and many people on both sides died a horrible death.
This film is truly a anti war movie, showing the the Beast of War with impressive scenes of dying people. The first 10 minutes are a lot like "Saving Private Ryan" with excellent music and a bitter and hopeless athmosphere. But you wonÂ´t find the bloodthirsty Nazis as hellspawn, you will find cruelty on both sides and the will to live another day.
This film is called in Germany "Duell" (duel) and that is the leading story here. A russian sniper (Jude Law acting really good) and a perfect cool and blue-eyed Ed Harris as his german counterpart. They play a deadly and very intelligent cat-and-mouse play in between an bombed city.
And this is the only point where you could say: "Hey, this is a lot like a Playstation game (i.e. Medal of Honor) and it looks like a lot of fun." The killing of nearly 2 million people on either sides is a background theme most of the film.
Robert Fraisse handles the camera right for an action movie with a lot of close ups. So, you will get two hours of intense athmosphere and authentic pictures of a war i luckily never saw for myself.
The War scenes are not gory, but keep in mind it is a war movie without glorification of the war. So deaths are shown in many ways and when a sniper hits the head of a soldier it is shown with a lot of blood.
For the price of your ticket you will get a very good filmed movie with a few special effects (like a bomber squad bombing Stalingrad)and extremely good actors. The love story involved is just a bit emotion, mixed in this man made movie and the happy end not that believable.