[OT] "Enemy At The Gates" Review (Warning! May contain spoilers)

Counterpoint.

I saw this film also and was, somewhat, disapointed. I did enjoy the move (as
entertainment), but was disapointed in some aspects.

Caveats first: I am not in, nor I have been in the military, much less in
battle, or performed duties as a sniper. Going in, I had medium high hopes for
this movie.

Spoiler Space

Spoiler Space

The opening scenes of confusion for the hero were quite well done. The opening
battle scenes (CGI and all) were very well done. I did notice a theme at the
beginning, that the germans were all clean, and the soviets were all dirty.
The reason for this was to support the later class struggle theme that is
threaded throughout the picture.

While I am talking about the theme of class struggle, I will state that I
thought that it came off preachy. It was too strong and oozed into every
aspect of this picture. Aristocratic Germans vs. the commoners of the USSR.
USSR officers (political or standard) vs the common soldier. The manipulation
of the hero by the political officer. The german officer and the shoeshine
boy. The USSR political officer and the shoeshine boy. Especially so was the
scene where the educated heroine is trying to breach the gap to the hero, and
the hero espires to become a factory worker!

The love story was poorly done. I never felt any real chemistry between the
heroine and hero (although I did feel the political officer's desire to
possess the heroine). The required, gratuitous sex scene was ill conceived,
uninspiring, and unnecessary.

The sniper action, before the dual, was well done. It showed the hero getting
into possition, being patient, taking the correct shots, and moving on.

After the introduction of the antihero (german sniper), the sniper action
becomes less believable. We never (at least I can't remember) seeing the
german sniper getting into possition. He does not use camoflage. And he does
not move after taking the shot. The hero, now has tag-alongs that do
nothing but muck up his talent. He still is a crack shot, but he relies less
on camoflage, does not always scope out his possition (for an escape route),
makes quick movements (even running and jumping), and generally becomes
ineffective.

Spoiler Alert!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The end of the sniper duel is IMHO, lame. No self respecting sniper is going
to just walk out to see if he killed his target. At the very least, he would
use cover in the attempt.

Now, the above is almost all complaints. But this is presented as counter
point to Allan's fine review.

All being said, I did enjoy the movie as entertainment. And I may go see it
again.

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> On Sun, 18 Mar 2001 18:13:00 -0500, "Brian Bell" <bkb@beol.net> wrote:

> The required, gratuitous sex scene was ill conceived,

Actually, I didn't find it at all gratuitous. And I actually thought it wasn't
bad. I heartily disagree that it was unnecessary. It's the point where the
character falls in love with the woman, totally. It's needed to set up the
change in the character when he feels he has to avenge her and defeat Koenig.

> The end of the sniper duel is IMHO, lame. No self respecting sniper is

As I mentioned, I believe this is on purpose. I think he's deliberately
unbelievable. Yes, it was I'm not sure, but I think there's a certain "unreal"
quality to the scenes in grey tones. I'll have to see it again to see if this
is a theme. But that whole climax is unbelievable, but I think for good
reason. It's the legend, the myth.

Here's a question: aside from the 5 Germans that start the "legend", how many
people do you actually see Zeitsev kill? Yet, he's discovered huddled in fear,
and he survives the major offensive near the end by huddling in fear (by his
own admission).

> Now, the above is almost all complaints. But this is presented as

Thank you!

Personally, from seeing some of Annaud's other stuff, I honestly believe some
of his "mistakes" and unbelievable scenes are unbelievable for a reason.

> The love story was poorly done. I never felt any real chemistry

You have to remember that the Soviet view of a love story is: Boy meets Girl,
Boy meets Tractor, Boy leaves Girl for Tractor. (This according to a Russian
friend of mine, 20 years ago).