The suspense and sense of desperation upon which Enemy at the Gates thrives is thrust upon the viewer right from the start of the film. The action follows Vassily Zaitsev (Jude Law), an inexperienced backwoods kid from the Ural Mountains who finds himself thrown into battle at Stalingrad, the city that is essentially Russia’s last stand against the German onslaught. Forced to choose between the guns of German defenses and the Russian ones that will shoot them if they retreat, Russian soldiers totally devoid of training and motivation go into battle doomed to die either way.

It is in the thick of this madness that Vassily demonstrates his sharpshooting prowess to a young political officer by the name of Danilov (Joseph Fiennes), who turns Vassily into a national hero through the use of propaganda. As Russian morale rises along with Vassily's kill count, the Germans realize that neutralizing him is critical to the effort at Stalingrad. Legendary German sniper Major Konig (Ed Harris) is brought in to kill Vassily, and both sides understand that this battle of wits has historical implications.

Around this central plot line revolves several other interesting stories: the relationship between Vassily and Danilov, their competition for the beautiful Tania (Rachel Weisz), and the plight of Mrs. Filipov (Eva Mattes), whose young son Sasha (Gabriel Thompson) is working overtime as both a shoe-polisher and a double agent.

Jean-Jacques Annaud delivers visually stunning scenery and a plot that is both moving and intricate, and the casting choices were excellent as well. However, the dialogue left much to be desired, as Russians and Germans alike spoke in either British or American accents. Also, some of the battle scenes seemed to borrow a bit too heavily from Saving Private Ryan.

The greatest disappointment of all, however, was the lack of development of the Major Konig character. The image of Enemy that was pitched by the previews was that of a battle between two great men, a microcosm of the Russo-German conflict. Instead, the viewer is presented with a number of do-no-wrong Russian heroes and frankly satanic German villains. The viewer never gets the chance to understand Major Konig as anything other than a cold-blooded killing machine with a complete lack of morals. Also disappointing was Danilov’s soliloquy denouncing communism immediately preceding his only act of heroism.

On the whole, I found Enemy at the Gates to be a good war movie with some love and intrigue thrown in as well. However, if you expect a look at the "other side" without the obstacles of misplaced patriotism, spend five dollars on lunch at Athens Deli instead.