RE: [OT] "Enemy At The Gates" Review (Warning! May contain spoilers)

Counterpoint.

I saw this film also and was, somewhat, disapointed. I did enjoy the
move
(as entertainment), but was disapointed in some aspects.

Caveats first:
I am not in, nor I have been in the military, much less in battle, or
performed duties as a sniper.
Going in, I had medium high hopes for this movie.

Spoiler Space

Spoiler Space

The opening scenes of confusion for the hero were quite well done. The
opening battle scenes (CGI and all) were very well done. I did notice a
theme at the beginning, that the germans were all clean, and the soviets
were all dirty. The reason for this was to support the later class
struggle
theme that is threaded throughout the picture.

While I am talking about the theme of class struggle, I will state that
I
thought that it came off preachy. It was too strong and oozed into every
aspect of this picture. Aristocratic Germans vs. the commoners of the
USSR.
USSR officers (political or standard) vs the common soldier. The
manipulation of the hero by the political officer. The german officer
and
the shoeshine boy. The USSR political officer and the shoeshine boy.
Especially so was the scene where the educated heroine is trying to
breach
the gap to the hero, and the hero espires to become a factory worker!

The love story was poorly done. I never felt any real chemistry between
the
heroine and hero (although I did feel the political officer's desire to
possess the heroine). The required, gratuitous sex scene was ill
conceived,
uninspiring, and unnecessary.

The sniper action, before the dual, was well done. It showed the hero
getting into possition, being patient, taking the correct shots, and
moving
on.

After the introduction of the antihero (german sniper), the sniper
action
becomes less believable. We never (at least I can't remember) seeing the
german sniper getting into possition. He does not use camoflage. And he
does
not move after taking the shot. The hero, now has tag-alongs that do
nothing
but muck up his talent. He still is a crack shot, but he relies less on
camoflage, does not always scope out his possition (for an escape
route),
makes quick movements (even running and jumping), and generally becomes
ineffective.

Spoiler Alert!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The end of the sniper duel is IMHO, lame. No self respecting sniper is
going
to just walk out to see if he killed his target. At the very least, he
would
use cover in the attempt.

Now, the above is almost all complaints. But this is presented as
counter
point to Allan's fine review.

All being said, I did enjoy the movie as entertainment. And I may go see
it
again.

---
Brian Bell
bkb@beol.net
ICQ: 12848051
AIM: Rlyehable
The Full Thrust Ship Registry:
http://www.ftsr.org
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