Rating: 
Summary: Not an epic but a courageous and brilliant effort by Annaud.
Review: I just finished watching this DVD and I feel I must rebut the previous review(s) which sought to politicize the movie as a battle between Nazism and Communism. Watching this movie one cannot but feel sympathy for all those who suffered and were killed in WWII, whatever their political stripes. Hurray to Jean-Jacques Annaud for having the courage to make this brilliant film (and for Hollywood to distribute it). While not an epic it does portray the utter bleakness of the Battle for Stalingrad. He weaves a true story of two sharp-shooters embellished with two other characters and set amid a backdrop of hand-to-hand combat and millions of bombs of saturation bombing of the city. Maybe he took a few historical licenses but so did SPR. Annaud does well not to take ideological sides, except for a few digs made at Socialism - no doubt put in there to pander to Western audiences. As for only 6000 out of 91,000 German POW's having survived, boo hoo! 147,000 German soldiers died and so did a half-million Soviet soldiers. Not to mention untold number of civilians. Many perished of cold, hunger and disease. In the end, the Battle for Stalingrad was a turning point in the ultimate defeat of the German war machine and of Hitler.
Rating: 
Summary: It could have been great
Review: Obiously the objective of Hollywood is to entertain - not to teach history; however I genuinely feel this film does a disservice to the history of Stalingrad and especially to the women who fought for Russia. From reading numerous text on the fighting on the Eastern Front I can tell you most assuredly that the Russian infantry assault tactics in the Stalingrad did not involve mass charges across open squares. The Russians were expert at street fighting and outfought the Germans using innovative tactics that the Germans never successfully countered. For example, to overcome the German artillery and air superiority the Russians "hugged the Germans close", with the front line being separate rooms in the same building. The Russians also developed tactics such as special 10 man assault squads equipped with automatic weapons, blowing mouse holes between buildings for unexposed movement, sending troops in the sewers to inflitrate behind the Germans, etc. As far as women were concerned, the Russians had special sniper schools for women and in fact several women won the highest award of the Hero of the Soviet Union. Also women served in the anti-aircraft units, artillery, and even as tankist. In this movie the female lead is nothing but a sex symbol and a distraction to the main plot. In additon, the role of the commisar is a silly and unbelievable caricature. Even the fighting scenes were ho hum. If you want to see a more realistic movie on the fighting in Stalingrad, I highly recommend the 1991 German film "Stalingrad" with English subtitles. I much anticipated "Enemy" and was sorely dissapointed.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining thriller set against a backdrop of war
Review: There was a Russian sniper ace by the name of Vassily Zaitzev in the Battle of Stalingrad. And there was an instructor from a German sniper school sent to get rid of him. The two dueled for days in the rubbles of Stalingrad until one day, the German killed an overly-enthusiastic political commissar at the side of Zaitzev. But in the process Zaitzev caught a glint off the German's sniperscope. He killed the German with one shot. Those are the historical facts. What happened in the movie is creative license. Contrary to the claims of some reviewers, this movie is not a "chick flick" in the guise of a war movie. If anything, the romantic triangle between Jude Law, Joseph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz is underdeveloped, and seems oddly detached from the rest of the action. There are some dramatic (read gruesome) battle sequences in the tradition of SPR, and the film does give a flavor of the brutality of the Eastern Front, although as some have pointed out, it is NOT a historically accurate depiction of the Battle of Stalingrad per se. Mostly, this is a movie about the personal duel between 2 soldiers, played with admirable nuances by Jude Law and Ed Harris. The grand ideological conflict behind the war does not matter here. The bombs raining overhead merely set the stage for a contest of skills and will between 2 reluctant warriors, neither of whom takes pleasure in the prospect of killing, but both equally determined to perform his duties. I was strangely reminded of Heat as I watched the film. And in many ways, although the setting cannot be more different, this film is closer in spirit to the classic cop-and-gangster cat-and-mouse thriller than most war movies. A very well done and entertaining film. Although I think the film left a great deal unexplored with regards to the psychology of the protagonists, and the ending was too saccharine to be believable. This weakness in the writing is what kept the film from being a 5-star masterpiece.
Rating: 
Summary: Not much here
Review: Besides a great cast, excellent special effects, and a tremendous amount of history to draw upon, this fictitious love story set in the calamity that was the Battle of Stalingrad comes across as rather weak. Read Antony Beevor's book "Stalingrad, the fateful siege" instead.
Rating: 
Summary: AN OUTSTANDING WAR MOVIE
Review: With the background of the immense tragedy of the Battle for Stalingrad, a personal confrontation between two snipers, a russian and a german, unfolds in the sieged city. The fact is that the russian sniper depicted really existed, and russian sniper warfare was very important psichologically in Stalingrad, to undermine the enemy's will to fight. It also provided the russians with enough propaganda material to raise the morale of their soldiers, through the divulgation of the stories of the hero snipers of Stalingrad in the whole Army (This battle was the turning point for the war on the eastern front). The movie has very good photography and realistic settings and the plot deals with the struggle between evil and good, the exploitation of the ingenuity of the russian sniper for political purposes, and the extreme deprivation that the combatants had to endure during this battle.
Rating:
Summary: On its own merit
Review: Great MOVIE. Movies should never be compared to the books. The books are always better. Several books have such awesome characters and stories that you just need to see them on the screen. This is one of them. It's one person's interpretaion of the book. Still a damn good movie. I liked it better than Saving Private Ryan.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, but not the great classic it could have been!
Review: If this movie had been as raw,ghastly, and horrible as the battle surely was, it would probably have been a real box office flop, so the studio threw in some unnecessary courting and love scenes, and focused a little too much on the duel of the snipers. Even so, this is among the best war movies out there, even if sanitized somewhat. The strafing of the ferry boats in the beginning, Krushchev (done very realistically here) leading the Soviet cause, and much of the rest is top notch. The dueling sharpshooters is in the book, but here given much greater airplay, and this does humanize this terrible tale of the terrors that man inflicts on his fellows...Watching this, one wonders how the young Russian dispatcher got caught up in such a mess, but surely crazier things can happen in war. The Luftwaffe bombardment scenes across the bombed out Stalingrad landscape are great too, but the complete and utter destructiveness and waste of this battle are not really shown, not to mention the historical disaster visited on the German 6th Army. Probably this awfulness could not be captured in any movie anyway. The symbol of bombed Stalingrad, the destroyed statues of children dancing arm in arm together, is given its due. So in the attempt to humanize this destructiveness, the film is not always sucessful. The German sniper (Harris) ends up another semi-cartoon caricature, whereas the Russian side is given a lot more sympathy. Given that this battle was compressed into a 2 and half hour movie, it deserves a solid 5-star review, even if it could have been better. In fact, I think it was unfairly criticized in the press, and will last as a great war movie, if not a classic!!
Rating: 
Summary: What a shame
Review: I was very disappointed with the movie "Enemy at the Gates." I believe my disappointment is based on the fact that I enjoyed the book very much, and the way the producer/director chose to change charater motivations in the movie ruined a very well-written story.
I am often disappointed when a book I thoroughly enjoy is made into a movie; I have once more learned my lesson and will leave movie watching to those who lack good reading abilities
Rating:
Summary: An excellent vision of WWII
Review: The movie centers upon German invasion of Stalingrad. I found myself shocked at the frightening treatment of the Soviet soldiers. As the poorly-trained Soviet soldiers are sent into battle, only one man in each pair is allowed a gun- the other bullets. We watch in disbelief as the men are shot down, most of them, unarmed. The camera angles are unbelieveable as you feel you are within the movie. Here, we are introduced to Vassily Zaitzer(Jude Law) A skilled sharp-shooter whose ability is recognized by a war reporter, Danilov. (Joseph Fiennes) As Zaitzer picks off nearby officers from his hiding place beneath the dead bodies of his fellow soldiers, Danilov discovers the one person who may heighten the hopes of the Soviet people. Thus, we follow Zaitzer as he picks off the top officers one by one, Danilov, publishing his friend's accomplishments. But love is introduced when a young woman soldier is introduced. (Rachel Weisz) Zaitzer as well as Danilov are taken with this woman and so starts the subtle conflict between the two men. Elsewhere, the German government has gotten word of the Soviet sniper and sends in their top man-Major Konig,(Ed Harris) to take out Zaitzer. I don't believe this movie will become a war epic but I do feel it gives in excellent depiction of the struggle of WWII and of the memorable battle of Stalingrad. It is very believable and very thought provoking. I gave this movie only four stars because I found the love triangle a little too prominate as the sex scene was too unbelievable during the situation the two characters were in- though I will not give away anymore. I would definitely recommend this movie. I was thoroughly entertained and saddened by the story line. Directed by Jean-Jaques Annaud and cowritten by Alain Godard.
Rating:
Summary: HarlemluvsthaLaw
Review: Not your typical war movie. Every character was so convincingly tormented. I love this movie. If you are seeking a flick filled with over rated violence, this is not your film. There is a grit to this movie that held my attention. It was also nice to see Rachel Weisz in this drama. My interest in actor Jude Law has only been further cemented by his role in this movie. This is a tear jerker so break out the Kleenex and popcorn!!
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