Now, let's get serious. Regardless, Hanks' 70 minutes of solo virtuoso screen time should wash ashore a third statue for him. Since Lee's Taiwanese beauty is a very sure thing for Best Foreign Film, go with the names in boldface but expect any possible combination. In this retelling of the Battle of Stalingrad, sweeping scenes of combat breathtakingly unfold on screen. Jaw-dropping shots of soldiers trapped aboard boats desperately heading to shore are riveting, as Nazi airplanes swoop from above, spraying them with bullets.
Every battle scene packs a wallop.
However, when the camera points at human drama, the intimate, quiet moments of war, Annaud loses focus and the film lags. Jude Law is good as true-life Russian war hero Vassili Zaitsev, a foot soldier who quickly is heralded as a prized marksman. Even a scene between the lovers, where they quietly try to have sex amidst a barracks filled with sleeping soldiers, is amazingly dull. Then, tack on a love triangle that involves Danilov as a jealous rival and the film has taken a major misstep. Only segments later, soldiers are trapped inside crumbling buildings while oncoming airplanes conduct bombing raids, flying straight for them.