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Enemy At the Gates is the tale of two snipers battling it out in the setting of the war torn city of Stalingrad during the Second World War.
Anyone who watched the World War II classic Saving Private Ryan remembers the fascination of watching the highly skilled American sniper knocking off Nazis.
In this story Vassili Zaitsez, played by Jude law is elevated by soviet propaganda to hero status to boost the red army's morale under the overwhelming Nazi onsluaght. They even tally his kills in the newspapers. Vassili and his comrade have great talent at knocking off German officers so much that Nazi morale is significantly lowered. To get even, the Germans send in there own great sniper. Stalingrad becomes a battleground between these two men as they patiently wait to kill eachother. Vassili finds it increasingly hard not just to survive but to carry the weight of the Russian peoples expectations on his shoulders. Of course a little love is included in the story.
The fight scenes in this film are limited to clever sniper battles, so anyone hoping for a bloodbath which will match Saving Private Ryan will be dissapointed. however limited the fight scenes may be, they are done quite well. watching this movie revealed how badly off the average Russain Soldier was during this terrible battle. Having a sniping hero watching their backs probably make most Russian soldiers forget a little about how little they were equipt against the Germans.
However interesting the topic of this film is, I did come out wondering how much is fact and how much is fiction.
I did find the choice of casting in this movie slightly irritating. Sure some people may think having an english accent for Russians is better than an american one, The english accents are too thick in some places...awight guv?.
The American actor Ed Harris plays the Nazi sniper, and he is more believable as a Nazi than the English guys are as Soviets, although he occasionally speaks Hollywood German as in 'Vee will vin zee war.'. Anyhow he sure as hell does better than jude Law's luke warm performance.
Dialouge troubles aside its good to see a movie showing soviet fighting conditions, which were probably the most appaling in World War 2.
Anyone who watched the World War II classic Saving Private Ryan remembers the fascination of watching the highly skilled American sniper knocking off Nazis.
In this story Vassili Zaitsez, played by Jude law is elevated by soviet propaganda to hero status to boost the red army's morale under the overwhelming Nazi onsluaght. They even tally his kills in the newspapers. Vassili and his comrade have great talent at knocking off German officers so much that Nazi morale is significantly lowered. To get even, the Germans send in there own great sniper. Stalingrad becomes a battleground between these two men as they patiently wait to kill eachother. Vassili finds it increasingly hard not just to survive but to carry the weight of the Russian peoples expectations on his shoulders. Of course a little love is included in the story.
The fight scenes in this film are limited to clever sniper battles, so anyone hoping for a bloodbath which will match Saving Private Ryan will be dissapointed. however limited the fight scenes may be, they are done quite well. watching this movie revealed how badly off the average Russain Soldier was during this terrible battle. Having a sniping hero watching their backs probably make most Russian soldiers forget a little about how little they were equipt against the Germans.
However interesting the topic of this film is, I did come out wondering how much is fact and how much is fiction.
I did find the choice of casting in this movie slightly irritating. Sure some people may think having an english accent for Russians is better than an american one, The english accents are too thick in some places...awight guv?.
The American actor Ed Harris plays the Nazi sniper, and he is more believable as a Nazi than the English guys are as Soviets, although he occasionally speaks Hollywood German as in 'Vee will vin zee war.'. Anyhow he sure as hell does better than jude Law's luke warm performance.
Dialouge troubles aside its good to see a movie showing soviet fighting conditions, which were probably the most appaling in World War 2.
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did you know that teflon comes from spiders feet?
did you know that teflon comes from spiders feet?
