By EWAN McDONALD
(Herald rating: * * * * )
Yes, Virginia (or more likely, Britney or Toyah) there was a Second World War that did not involve Americans. However, a generation that takes its history lessons from Hollywood will be pleased to know that this movie, set during Hitler's 1942 invasion
of the Soviet Union, involves a love triangle, just like Pearl Harbor.
Vassili (Jude Law) is a Russian soldier. He was a shepherd and learned to shoot by killing wolves. When he kills five Germans, Danilov (Joseph Fiennes), the political officer assigned to his unit, boosts Russian morale by printing a leaflet that turns the farm boy into a hero.
To kill Vassili and end the propaganda, the Germans bring in their best sniper, Konig (Ed Harris), a Bavarian aristocrat who shoots deer in peacetime. The two will duel among the bombed factories and rubble of Stalingrad.
Unfortunately, this powerful story is weakened when director Jean-Jacques Annaud (In the Name of the Rose, Seven Years in Tibet) introduces the love interest. Vassili meets Sacha (Gabriel Marshall-Thomson), a boy who ghosts between the lines, and Tanya (Rachel Weisz), a Jewish woman whose parents were killed by Nazis. She will become the snipers' real target.
Rental video, DVD: Today
* DVD features: movie (131 mins); scene selection, audio commentary with writer/director Jean-Jacques Annaud, Inside Enemy at the Gates making-of feature, Through the Crosshairs behind-the-scenes feature, Pathe documentary on the Stalingrad battle, deleted scenes, storyboard comparisons, poster campaign gallery, cast and crew filmographies, trailer, animated menus, English captions for the hearing-impaired.
