A Time for Drunken Horses is one of those rare, subtle melodramas that earns its tears without audience manipulation. The image of frail Madi, sitting on a snowbank, trying to warm his cold hands, lingers long after the final credits. A Time for Drunken Horses makes its heartache unforgettable. Enemy at the Gates is at times a wonderful, epic war film and at other times a hackneyed, disjointed mess. It really seems like they shot every other page of the script.
Scenes start seemingly in the middle of important conversations.
Relationships aren't fully drawn out. Great moments of tension are abruptly cut short. It's sad to see because the film, as it stands, is the start of something beautiful. Comparisons to Saving Private Ryan are a bit overboard, but it's still far better than The Thin Red Line . Jude Law stars as Vassilli Zaitsev, a Russian farm boy whisked away to war when his talents at marksmanship give the Russian army something to boast.