history of war, with more than one million perishing of wounds, disease,
and the bitter cold of winter. Like Napoleon a century earlier, Hitler
came to Stalingrad with the aim of breaking the spirit of Russia, and,
also like the little French general, he was faced with catastrophic
losses. The toll taken upon the German army at Stalingrad represented one
of the turning points of World War II. Most history experts agree that
had Hitler not persisted in trying to take the Soviet city in what turned
into a personal contest with Stalin, the Third Reich might have triumphed
on its western front.
Enemy at the Gates elects to view this historic conflict from the
point-of-view of a limited group of characters, rather than attempting to
tackle the battle in epic format. The film takes actual historic figures
and tries to imbue them with the traits that allow their private
struggles to mirror the overall conflict. Although, the underlying ideas
of film are interesting and the production is technically adept, I had a
hard time liking Enemy. The film has an emotional coolness that keeps
the characters at a distance. The film also lacks dramatic tension. The
movie always moves in the direction of the inevitable conclusion, with
minimal suspense along the way. The historical backdrop is fascinating,
but the struggle does not live up to the quote above.
Enemy had all the elements necessary for a compeling war drama, but it
lacked the character depth and its detached style made watching the movie
an uninvolving experience. There were times I admired the film, but I
was never really drawn into the story. The cat-and-mouse games between
Vassily and Koenig, which tries to form the movie's backbone, are not
suspenseful. Instead, they felt perfunctory and obilgatory. The various
subplots as severly underdeveloped. The most interesting of these -
Danilov's building up of Vassily's reputation (followed by a hurried
attempt to tear it down) - is presented almost as an afterthought. In
addition, the romantic triangle between Vassily, Danilov and Tania is
written and developed on the level of a soap opera.
The battle sequences, especially those with the bombs bursting in air
over Stalingrad, are well sequenced, detailed and impressive. As
soldiers are being transported across the Volga River to Stalingrad, the
film's verisimilitude is enchanced by the cinamatography (mostly
accomplished by the dim lighting, abundance of browns and grays and
washing out the bright colors). As Vassily, Jude Law does a solid job
re-creating the conflicted war hero who doubts his own prowess. As Major
Koenig, Ed Harris delivers a strong screen presence the best he can with
the underwritten part. These aspects of the movie might be its sole
saving grace.
Rating: 2 stars (out of 4)