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***1/2 of ****
Rated: R
Writers:
Jean-Jacques Annaud
Alain Godard
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud
Cast:
Jude Law: Vassily Zaitsev
Joseph Fiennes: Danilov
Rachel Weisz: Tania
Ed Harris: Major Koenig
Bob Hoskins: Krushchev
Gabriel Thomson: Sasha
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During World War Two, late in the summer of 1942, the German 4th & 6th armies make a deep but narrow push into Soviet territory for the purpose of capturing the large industrial city of Stalingrad, and more importantly, cutting off the Volga river as a transportation link. The capitol of Moscow will be cut off from the southern supply of food and oil if any part of the Volga river falls into enemy hands, and when Moscow falls, the Soviet Union will have lost the war. The Volga river is the gateway. The Soviet strategy was to keep the German army occupied with fighting in Stalingrad while the Soviet army was preparing for a massive counteroffensive against the much less effective non-German forces in the surrounding countryside to in turn cut off the city occupying German army from their supplies. The strategy worked very well, but in retaking the 90+% of Stalingrad that was in German hands, the Soviets did far more damage to their city than did the invader. This battle was the turning point of the war.
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Synopsis:
The German army is the enemy capturing the Soviet city of Stalingrad along the Volga river which is the gateway of the Soviet Union. A young Soviet soldier named Vassily survives his first day of battle, and the marksmanship he displays along the way gets the attention of a political officer named Danilov. Desperate to boost morale among the soldiers, Danilov starts publishing Vassily's accomplishments as propaganda. This gets the attention of the German army who send in their own sharpshooter, Major Konig, for the purpose of ending his propaganda value. The citizens of the city are wholly involved in the battle. Vassily is admired in different ways by those around him, and an odd war time triangle develops. The opposing snipers try to outwit each other while the city crumbles. The dual of the snipers could be taken as a parallel of the dual of the two nations leaders.
Review:
The director, Annaud, does everything right to maximize the tension in the film. The elements in this story have been done before, and the basic story is real, so it is inherently predictable. From the desperate force used on their own troops by the Soviet army to the clamoring masses trying to flee, the extreme hopelessness is solidly conveyed. The balance of the snipers role in a massive urban campaign is well highlighted by the use of Luftwaffe raids at key points in the movie. Every sniper sequences demonstrates the combination of tension and boring isolation that make that a difficult specialty. This and other scenes help the audience to better understand and sympathize with the snipers.
The scope and scene of this film do tend to make the acting look flat, but it wasn't. The variety of accents that the actors have is something you should just ignore. Major Konig's motivation was pretty obvious, but his understated portrayal by Harris probably made him the most believable character. Konig's relationship with the young boy, Sasha, were the strongest one on one scene's in the film. Many of the sniper and spotter dialogs say a lot with very few words which in contrast to the Hollywood norm. The lead performance by Law is well done, and conveys the image of a country boy thrown into war. Fiennes does a good job portraying the political officer trying to find hope in surviving while understanding the fatal situation. Weisz carries the more emotionally volatile role as the local woman who's skills could be very helpful if she can get past her own battle. Bob Hoskins plays Nikita Khrushchev strongly as the representative of the brutal Stalin.
The individual parts of the film all seem to work fine, but as a whole there is something missing. The chemistry in the romantic relationship isn't strong. The disappearance of the propaganda from the story really leaves a lack of apparent motivation for Major Konig while his feelings surrounding his real motivation could have been developed a little with out giving it away. The film does avoid the gored filled scenes of the rats and birds feasting on the thousands of corpses, but they didn't need to with the realistic images of the rifle shots to the heads of many individuals. The movie is definitely worth seeing, and women are actually giving this film a higher rating than are men.