Melodramatic `Enemy at the Gates' Tanks

Enemy of the Gates

2 Stars

Hollywood tends to imagine the World War II as a two-sided battle between the Western Allies and the Germans.

"Enemy at the Gates," the new film by Jean-Jacques Annaud ("Seven Years in Tibet"), is the latest addition to Hollywood's revival of the WWII movie. It offers an entirely foreign perspective for American audiences: the "good guys" are the Soviets.

Set during the epic siege of Stalingrad, the film tells the true story of Vasily Zaitsez (Jude Law), who rose to fame as a sniper in the Soviet army.

Like the much-lauded Normandy invasion scene in "Saving Private Ryan," "Enemy at the Gates" begins with a harrowing scene of unprepared soldiers thrown into the heart of battle. And Annaud characterizes the Red Army as particularly brutal.

After an attack on a German position ends in devastation for the Soviets, Vasily survives amid a sea of corpses. By chance, he meets Danilov (Joseph Fiennes, "Shakespeare in Love"), a political officer whose job it is to print material to boost morale.

When Vasily takes out five Nazis with five bullets, Danilov uses propaganda to transfer the young soldier to the sniper division and turn him into a national hero.

The detailed re-creation of the bombed-out city of Stalingrad is one of the highlights of the film. Filled with abandoned department stores and giant factories, it's a powerful metaphor for the costs of violence.

It also serves as a brilliant set for the intricate game of cat and mouse that develops between Vasily and Major Konig (Ed Harris), the Nazi sniper brought in to destroy him.

As Vasily, Jude Law proves himself to be a charismatic and subtle actor. Next to Joseph Fiennes' endless posing, Law's performance seems effortless.

Bob Hoskins is cartoonish as the ruthless Khrushchev who demands that Danilov exploit Vasily for all he's worth. Ed Harris is effective as the steely Konig, but his American accent is sorely misplaced.

The film's greatest shortcoming, however, is its heavy-handed script, which succumbs to noxious romanticizing and endless cliches. It simplifies the moral conflicts of war and fails to give any of the characters significant depth.

The story offers the requisite romantic triangle as both Vasily and Danilov fall for the beautiful Tanya, a university-educated militia fighter. She can read Goethe and fire a rifle!

But the real distraction is not all the bombing or gunfire: It's James Horner's unbearably melodramatic score, which threatens to destroy any emotional impact the film might have.

"Enemy at the Gates" is commendable in its attempts to illustrate the devastation suffered by the Soviet Union during the war. While it is rare for big-budget American war films to humanize the Soviets, "Enemy at the Gates" fails to make them more than recognizable Hollywood types.

The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.