Jammed onto a boat with other soldiers, he experiences a terrifying crossing of the Volga River, as Nazi planes fire, killing and wounding men before they have a chance to fight.ĭirector Jean-Jacques Annaud ('The Bear,' 'Seven Years in Tibet') presents Stalingrad as a demolished city of smoking ruins, where battles are fought in the streets. After a brief prologue that establishes country boy Vassili (Jude Law) as a marksman, we see him as a young soldier heading to the front. The picture shows the direct influence of 'Saving Private Ryan,' with war scenes of uncompromising horror and pandemonium. Yet it's precisely the moral mess that was Stalingrad - in addition to all the carnage and confusion - that makes the battle compelling.įor a while 'Enemy at the Gates' seems like the messy epic this conflict deserves.
The audience may know whom to root for, but it's hard to get out the pom-poms and megaphones for Uncle Joe.
