March 23, 2001 -- "Enemy at the Gates" is a tale of one of the most terrible battles ever fought, the battle of Stalingrad (renamed Novgorod). The German and Soviet armies fought over the shattered remains of the city in 1942 and 1943 during World War II. If the Germans had won the battle, they might have won the war. The Soviets did not want to lose the city named after their leader. It was a battle with horrible costs in terms of military and civilian casualties. German casualties alone were 300,000. In the end, Hitler learned the same bitter lesson that Napoleon learned 130 years earlier about attacking Russia.

With such a grim subject for a movie, one would expect the movie itself to be dark and grim, and it is. The story is about two snipers, the legendary Vassily Zaitsev (played by Jude Law of "The Talented Mr. Ripley") and his talented counterpart, Major Koenig (Ed Harris of "Pollock") of the opposing German invasion force. By accident, Zaitsev's remarkable marksmanship is discovered by an officer named Danilov (Joseph Fiennes of "Shakespeare in Love"). He sees in Zaitsev a hero that the troops can rally around and arranges to have him assigned to the sniper corps. In newspaper articles and press releases, Danilov builds the sharpshooter into a national hero.

Zaitsev soon catches the eye of a beautiful young woman soldier named Tania (Rachel Weisz of "The Mummy"). The only trouble is, Danilov loves her too. Meanwhile, Koenig shows up and starts shooting Russian snipers and officers. Pressure is put on Zaitsev, who by now is struggling under the weight of being a hero, to win his duel with Major Koenig. Danilov has about gotten to the point where he'd rather see his romantic rival lose the duel.

The story plays out with a backdrop of shattered factories and homes in Stalingrad. This bleak landscape is depicted with great skill by production designer Wolf Kroeger and art directors Steven Lawrence and Dominic Masters. We get a real feel for the layout of the landscape and the position of the soldiers in battle, no easy feat. Director Jean-Jacques Annaud ("Seven Years in Tibet") does a good job of balancing the big battle scenes with the small dramas. The screenplay (Jean-Jacques Annaud and Alain Godard of "The Name of the Rose") does not overly glorify or vilify either side of the conflict. The Nazis do terrible things to try to win, but so do the Soviets. Even the deadly Major Koenig character is given some degree of humanity when we learn his own son was killed in the battle of Stalingrad. His relationship with the young boy Sasha (Gabriel Thomson) is also complex.

The lead actors are very effective in the film, including Bob Hoskins of "Felicia's Journey" as Nikita Krushchev. Seldom seen Ron Perlman of "Alien: Resurrection" does a good job as the Soviet sniper Koulikov. Although some have compared this film to "Saving Private Ryan," I don't think it is in the same class. It is not as compelling. I didn't feel drawn into the story. I also thought the ending was a bit lame. It didn't really match the tone of the rest of the film. As bleak as the rest of the film was, I think the real battle of Stalingrad was a lot tougher than this film made it out to be. This film rates a B.

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