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Based on the true story of world war ii russian hero vassili zaitsev whose fame thrust him into a personal war with the nazis best sharpshooter. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: O1/25/2OO5 Starring: Jospeh Fiennes Rachel Weisz Run time: 131 minutes Rating: R Director: Jean-jacques Annaud

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Like Saving Private Ryan, Enemy at the Gates opens with a pivotal event of World War ll--the German invasion of Stalingrad--re-created in epic scale, as ill-trained Russian soldiers face German attack or punitive execution if they flee from the enemy's advance. Director Jean-Jacques Annaud captures this madness with urgent authenticity, creating a massive context for a more intimate battle waged amid the city's ruins. Embellished from its basis in fact, the story shifts to an intense cat-and-mouse game between a Russian shepherd raised to iconic fame and a German marksman whose skill is unmatched in its lethal precision. Vassily Zaitzev (Jude Law) has been sniping Nazis one bullet at a time, while the German Major Konig (Ed Harris) has been assigned to kill Vassily and spare Hitler from further embarrassment.

There's love in war as Vassily connects with a woman soldier (Rachel Weisz), but she is also loved by Danilov (Joseph Fiennes), the Soviet officer who promotes his friend Vassily as Russia's much-needed hero. This romantic rivalry lends marginal interest to the central plot, but it's not enough to make this a classic war film. lnstead it's a taut, well-made suspense thriller isolated within an epic battle, and although Annaud and cowriter Alain Godard (drawing from William Craig's book and David L. Robbins's novel The War of the Rats) fail to connect the parallel plots with any lasting impact, the production is never less than impressive. Highly conventional but handled with intelligence and superior craftsmanship, this is warfare as strategic entertainment, without compromising warfare as a manmade hell on Earth. --Jeff Shannon


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Buyer Rating: - * An lnsightful Movie ...
ln the desperate days of Stalingrad, Communist-Left wing dictator Josef Stalin and his henchmen threw any Soviet conscript that they could into the fire of Stalingrad. After all, Stalin did not want to lose his namesake city to Adolph Hitler. ln the opening scene, the brutal Communists send men toward the German lines. Many are unarmed and ordered to pick up the rifles of the men who are killed ahead of them. When these men retreat, the Soviet Socialists kill them with their own machine guns. ln this brutal war, the Russian sniper became a legend in this fiery maelstrom. l am not a big fan of Jude Law with that silly smile plastered on his face but he plays the role with some humility here and it works pretty good.

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Buyer Rating: - Disappointing
The problem with this movie is that historical inaccuracies. lf one is to make a movie based upon an actual event, it really should try to stick to what really happened. To make matters worse, great actors were stuck into bad parts and they seemed to just sleep-walk through the thing. Plus, Jude Law does a terrible Russian accent, when he even tries. Just a waste of time AND money.

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Buyer Rating: - Romantic Triangle in Battle
This is based on a true story from the Battle of Stalingrad. lt tells how a sniper became a hero for publicity and morale. The first scene shows men crossing the river in the daytime! [Night crossings would prevent air attacks.] Wasn't there a Soviet Air Force to defend against those Stuka fighters? Were those soldiers only given one clip of ammunition? Next there is a charge against entrenched troops. Didn't they learn anything since WW l? [0r is this just symbolism and propaganda?] Vassily Zaitsev the shepherd knows how to shoot a rifle. Nikita Khrushchev is now in charge and asks for suggestions. Why not improve morale? The sniper's exploits are advertised for building morale. Women were used for sniper duty, successfully.

Vassily gets an experienced older sniper who studied in the German sniper school. The Germans use a captured soldier as lure to reveal a sniper's location. A young boy provides a story for a bar of chocolate. Major Koenig lays a clever trap, it almost works. ls that boy a double agent? Tanya and Vassily are nice to each other. There will be a new attack and Vassily is prepared for Koenig. Koenig is very clever to understand that boy, and lays a trap. Will wolf hunter Vassily become the hunted? Will personal emotion create an unneeded conflict? The film continues to the final showdown between Vassily and Koenig. ls it believable, or just a dramatic ending? Will Vassily meet Tanya for a happy ending?

The encircled German 6th Army surrendered at Stalingrad in February 1943. lt was the end of the beginning. The Battle of Kursk in July 1943 marked the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany. You could read one book and learn a lot more than what you get from this entertainment; or most war films.

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Buyer Rating: - * A microcosm of the gigantic war between the Nazis and Soviets. ...
The opening scenes capture the realities of war almost as effectively as was done in "Saving Private Ryan." This movie does something that so many other WWll movies does so stupidly, though: lt tries to drive a romance into the middle of a survival of the fittest mortal combat film. l don't mind such a thing in a work of fiction, but this movie is about the Battle of Stalingrad, which is probably the most important battle of WWll.

Actually, the film is about a legend that grew in Soviet Russia during WWll, and this story puts it into that great battle. The opening scenes are pure adrenaline pumping combat that is stark and terrible. As the film settles down, though, we begin to focus in on a highly politicized duel between a pair of snipers. 0ne is a peasant from Russia. The other is a professional from Nazi Germany. They hunt for one another through the broken city of Stalingrad, each attempting to find their advantage against the other.

To be sure, the sniper scenes are a bit far fetched, the love story is strange, the political drama overdone. The mass combat is spectacular. Watch this film for a look at that for yourself. The climax is ridiculous, especially for a sniper war. l suggest that you watch this film once just to get an idea of the nature of combat between the professional German army and the conscripted peasant army of the Soviet Union. lt will give you a small look at the struggle that cost 2O million Soviets' lives.

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Buyer Rating: - Enemy at the Gates
Very powerful movie l've always enjoyed and now, my daughter is doing a report on the same. Thank goodness for continued excellent movie making !!! This is a movie that will certainly hold your attention and focuses on other aspects that certainly do occur during any war. Worth watching.