A Single Bullet Can Change History (Enemy at the Gates (DVD))

Member Name: Andy.mack

Product:	Enemy at the Gates (DVD)
Date:	05/11/09 (39 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent performances, direction, script and Special Effects

Disadvantages: -

In 1942 the German army had the Russian city of Stalingrad under siege. While the Russians try to rally a response the German's are advancing further into the city and destroying more and more of it as they come. The Russians have pockets of resistance all over the city and one of those, Vassili Zaitsev, is causing the German's a lot of problems. He is an expert sniper who is picking the German troops off and moving before they even realise where he shot from. Their response is to bring in the best sniper in the German army and what begins is a massive game of cat and mouse between the two snipers all over the City.

Films based around the wars are always quite an interesting genre and with the American film makers tending to like rewriting the history of the war then the British funded Enemy of the Gates sounded like a break from the norm. The setting in the Russian city gives it a slightly different spin on the typical war film with all of the action taking place in the city of Stalingrad. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this movie and it certainly stands up amongst the best war films in the genre.

With the backing of the British studios the direction comes from French director Jean-Jacques Annaud who also claims a writing credit for the movie. His direction is superb and he has all the scene's set up perfectly throughout the war ravaged City centre. He has somehow captured exactly what you would expect the city to have looked like with mud and dirt everywhere. He's made the film look visually superb with the right lighting and scene setting and that adds a real sense of realism to his direction and in turn to the fell of the film as a whole.

It also helps that the plot doesn't seem to have itself buried in the usual American flag waving war stories and in fact there isn't an American to be seen. It has a very fast pace to the plot and it holds your attention throughout, even making the sniper sequences seem a lot quicker than they perhaps were. Of course they keep the realism by showing that they don't find what they are looking for on every outing and Annaud and co-writer Godard create a lot of tension through the way they've written and filmed certain scene's that work particularly well. It's a film that looks visually amazing with some fantastic special effects and both writer and director produce a brilliant movie here.

With the lead role filled by Jude Law at a time whilst he was still making a name for himself it works particularly well. As he wasn't a huge star at the time it gave him a real opportunity to showcase his acting ability. He is perfect in the role of Zaitsev and really gets you onside with the cunning and vision of his character. As the movie progresses we learn more and more about him and I think that really helps you to get behind him in his personal battle with the German forces. You can also sense the competition between him and Ed Harris who plays the German sniper.

Like Law, Harris takes to the role perfectly and the writers have created a character that the audience will want to see Zaitsev kill. The supporting cast is by no means shabby either with Rachel Weisz, Joseph Fiennes, Bob Hoskins and Ron Perlman. Each of the actors seem to really be at the top of their game in this movie and Annaud seems to really produce flawless performances from the entire cast, which is something of a rarity in movies of this sort.

Overall this is probably one of the best war movies of recent years. It doesn't have all the American flag waving, rewritten history that the Hollywood movies seem to pile into its war movies. Instead this is a very unique and insightful look into the battle for Stalingrad. It's a film that really requires your attention and has you hooked from the first minute to the last and despite its 131 minute run time it feels like a much shorter movie. If you like war films then I can recommend that you'll love this.

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Summary: The story of a Russian Snipers battle to try and keep Stalingrad