Review of Enemy at the Gates (2001) by Thomas W — 20 Jan 2012

Here was a movie which removed itself from the typical wartime dramas and used the conflict as a backdrop for a much more focused battle of wills. Jude Law and Ed Harris take each other on as rival snipers for the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, respectively, and pursue one another throughout the course of the movie with little regard for the chaos around them.

A testament to the notion of individual struggle, Law and Harris play their characters with the precision of a master violinst, heedless of the propaganda war that has sprouted up in their own nations.

As ficticious as the battle may have been, it is visually arresting and poignant a film, with the drudgery of life at the front and in Stalinist Russia almost a character itself.