Ain't It Cool News
March 9, 2001
By Harry Knowles

Once again, this will be short and sweet so I can get another review out of the way tonight, but this one is a flick that you must check out... ENEMY AT THE GATES... A flick I've been up for seeing for over a year now.

Now first... if you want the best film about the battle of Stalingrad, then go check out the dvd of STALINGRAD... that movie buries ENEMY AT THE GATES with a shovel, but I really really dug this movie. Now, in the trailer, you might've noticed a weird death effect where when a person is shot, they fall out of time with everyone else... NOT ONCE IN THE FILM IS THAT DONE..... THANK GOD! I was terrified that a 'cute' effect type thing would be dropped into an otherwise serious war film... but luckily... that's some weird trailer thing where someone in publicity said... "Let's make it look like THE MATRIX, but during WWII!"

Well, now that that's out of the way, I can continue with the review. ENEMY AT THE GATES is a difficult film to describe... most of the AICN crew that went tonight liked it quite a bit. Quint, Tom Joad, Father Geek, and Baby Face Nelson all adored the film. RoRo straddled the fence and Robogeek and El Cosmico had many problems with the film.

The film is ambitious as all hell in it's size and production scale. The sets and the city of Stalingrad as brought to life in this film is a surrealist's hell on earth... A complete bleak and terror filled world where bullets bring the only color to the world... bleak rosy red blood...

The film is, basically, about the battle of two men within a battle of THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of Men and Women that fought to repel the Nazis from the city of Stalingrad. The movie does not lend a kind eye to either the Nazis or the Soviets... Nor does it cast them as the most hideous bad guys in the world. Instead it gives a picture of men forced into a situation where they were to fight in an impossibly bad location because two men said... HERE AND NOW... they are of course, Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitler. Ahhhhh, joy... to be a Nazi or a Russian in Stalingrad... it had to be grand fun.

This has the best urban warfare since FULL METAL JACKET... and if you like Sniper warfare and the idea of two brilliant shots being pitted against one another in a grand nightmarish location... then this is your movie.... except the love story might piss you off. But more on that later.

This is a film about propaganda, how important the accomplishments of war heroes are to either side in a war. And with that you have the men that are built up to be HEROES... The weight of wearing that badge and honor. The stress of maintaining it. Also you have a very strong class system at play here. The failings of communism. The downfall of aristocratic arrogance. For me, watching this film... I was entranced with the story being told and characters telling it.

After the screening I heard a problem with the accents or lack of accents being voiced by some, but for me... I had no problem with this. I saw the film as a story of Russians and Germans being told in English. And I took it to mean that they were speaking Russian and German, but I was HEARING the movie as though I were a native of the languages. As a result, I felt that the British sound of one voice spoke of his education... That Ed Harris' elegant intonations were those of an aristocrat... and I was hearing them in ENGLISH, the language the film was shot in. Of course to each their own and it is an aesthetic choice that the director made... Had they each spoken German and Russian and the entire film was subtitled... perhaps the movie would have felt more authentic, but I liked the actors in the film and I really dug their performances.

I felt that Jude Law's eyes were a perfect young wolf stare. Whereas Ed Harris' eyes denoted older wiser more insideously intelligent wolf... The one that would've eaten Grandma and little red riding hood... Speaking of which... this brings me to Rachel Weisz and the romance angle of the film. I liked the romance... I did. I loved the way Weisz played her character. I adored Joseph Fiennes' Political Officer and I really really really loved Jude Law's sniper character. I believe the Romance added a nice flavor, but frankly... I don't know if what it added was enough to include it in the film. It distracted from what felt like the main story... the propaganda and war and rising to be hero in impossible circumstances... and believe me, she is lovely to behold in this movie, but it seems to give the character a release and a feeling of not being alone... which for me... For me, Jude Law being alone and distant... A man with his gun, and the fantastic game of chess with titans he plays... well, that was enough.

Having said that... I also feel that I might have missed it had it not been there too. The idea of cutting out the love scene including either Rachel Weisz's amazingly lovely haunches or those of a body double... I'll need to re-examine the scene in question, but my... my my myyyy.... Quite lovely amongst so much grime and hell. And for that... I'm pleased.

In the end though... if you are going to ENEMY AT THE GATES wanting to see warfare and large scale combat... well that is there... but the sniper game is what I was entranced by... making every bit of open air upright walking seem INSANELY TENSE. Also not knowing all of the history involved kept the suspense going for me.