Enemy at the Gates | | Cast : | Jude Law, Ed Harris, Joseph Fiennes | | Director : | Jean-Jacques Annaud | | Studio : | Paramount Home Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | March 16, 2001 | | DVD Released Date : | December 29, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 03, 2005 | | Summary | Non-stop Tension & Suspense, and Gritty Battle Atmosphere! | Content
 | Here is an aspect of WWII that I have never seen portrayed before. This movie really does a great job of capturing the confusion and futility felt by the Russian foot soldiers, who were likely to meet their deaths within minutes of being yanked off the train at the Battle for Stalingrad, (which is the turning point in WWII, after which the Nazis would continue to retreat until their defeat, two years later).
This film shows the inhuman callousness of Stalin's army, who run his ill-trained army of forced-recruits by pushing them into battle at gunpoint; fight or be shot by your own countrymen--NOW! This movie really gives the feeling of being there, in the rubble and dank ruins, with no safe place to survive.
This film focuses on a tiny portion of the 1973 book of the same title, "Enemy at the Gates," by William Craig; over a competition between a German sniper legend and a Russian sniper war hero. A weak element of this film is the Clint Eastwood style of impossible shooting skill displayed; but from reading the book, they actually were this accurate and deadly in real life, just not as quick on the draw. They would actually wait hours for the single deadly shot. So believe it or not, (and only the most hardcore WWII buffs will not), this film is based on true characters and events that really did happen! Another weak aspect is the gratuitous love scene, but this also is based on the true life love affair of these two Russian soldiers, who really did fight and fall in love at the Battle for Stalingrad! BTW, there real-life ending is very different than what this movie version portrays. Look it up in the movie book tie-in.
Despite its imperfections, there is much to find enthralling. Jude Law is perfectly cast as the likeable, humble, yet deadly sniper whose published exploits raise the morale of the Soviet army. The real-life character looks like a pudgy farm boy, in the photo in the book. He would go on to 242 confirmed kills, from this one man, a true story!
The female lead, played by Rachel Weisz, is charming and beautiful, in a battlefield sort of way. Their relationship is the microcosm that emotionally hooks the audience to the weight and severity of the horrible violence all around. The audience can cheer for these two during love and war. Ed Harris is terrific as a stone cold, career sniper, villain.
The last lead character is a Russian Comrade Commisar. He is a journalist looking for a hero to promote war morale throughout Russia, and he finds the perfect hero in Jude Law's character. He is also in a jealous love triangle with Jude Law and Rachel's characters.
The DVD extras could have been better, but they could have been worse, so those are nice extras, but nothing extraordinary.
This movie has inspired me to become very interested in researching more about WWII and the Battle of Stalingrad, and it is the most entertaining film that I have seen in quite some time! I'm hooked on it! |
| Rating | | | Date | July 04, 2005 | | Summary | A Great Movie | Content
| This is the first amazon movie review I have written, after reading many reviews for other movies for quite some time.
The criticisms I read about Enemy at the Gates are, by and large, correct! And, as a rule, I do not like war movies. So why on earth do I think this is a great movie?! I did happen to read the account of the sniper duel at the heart of the story, many years ago. (The story has been made more marketable, the love story is silly, but it is in essence truer to history than other much hyped movies...)
Well, the performances are great. The movie tells of a battle that was central to WWII.
I think I rate this movie so highly because it focuses on the brutal win or lose nature of total war. That's what it came down to. If the Russians lost they were going to be massacred en masse - that was Hitler's plan to make room for German expansion to the East. No 'earn this' like at the end of Private Ryan. WWII was about the life and death of vast numbers of civilians. The upbeat ending is bogus - yes I agree. But if you can just tune out those parts - this movie is like 'Paths of Glory' - it gets to the guts of war - either I kill you or you will kill me (and my family as well.)
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| Rating | | | Date | May 09, 2005 | | Summary | This is a very smart and romantic movie. | Content
| This movie shows a pivotal moment in Russian history. It shows the Russian military during a very important moment in World War II. The music is sublime. This movie is very good. It shows love, war, and politics in a way that people can understand how it relates to national interest. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 04, 2005 | | Summary | Please Hold Onto the Bar | Content
| "The Enemy at the Gates" is a war movie like few others ever made. It's promotional "hook" is the lethal, real life cat-and-mouse game between a German sniper and a Russian sniper during World War II. But the abject, brutal Power you are going to feel - the blow to your chest that will have you aching all over comes from the setting - the incredible squalor and waste of the siege/defense of Stalingrad.
Every sight is overcast, dark, dingy, dirty, cold and deadly. The people, if you can believe they are still people, seem most like maggots scurrying about in a cold, dank tomb, day after grinding day.
Every mindless, ghastly horror of War you can think of, from the total Dehumanization of young and old - to the pointless mass reduction of lives to gore and stench - to the total Avarice of politicians - to the total Malignancy of Greed and Power - is hurled straight into in your face. And yet... when you have long since decided those wretched pawns could never ever be live people again you will suddenly find yourself watching a lovemaking scene so totally Erotic yet so totally Human, and, somehow, so genuinely Artistic you WILL be absolutely spellbound. And that will be the point you finally feel some precious shred of hope you will actually be back in the light of your "real" world when the movie ends. "The Enemy at the Gate" is a slow, excruciatingly dismal trip across the River Styx - and back. Use your own discretion. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 02, 2005 | | Summary | I extra star for the camerawork, | Content
| which is really magnificent in this. The acting ranges from superb to good, and the story is captivating as well as interesting. Suffice to say if you like WW2 epics, you'll like this a lot. The only real problem has been mentioned by a few others, too: the film s simply too long, and spends too much time on politics and not enough on the action, which is, of course, the premise of the whole film. Several scenes are especially chilling, not all of them involving overt violence. |
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