Movies

It's the fall of 1942. Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law) grew up hunting with his father in the woods. He, Tania (Rachel Weisz) and countless other untrained recruits are brought up to the front at Stalingrad. He and Commisar Danilov (Joseph Fiennes) survive a suicidal charge. Vassili kills 5 Germans in the aftermath and Danilov writes about him. Nikita Khrushchev (Bob Hoskins) seizes the opportunity to make him a star. Opposing him is the aristocratic German sniper Major König (Ed Harris).The opening is an amazing opera of mass destruction. Then it's a matter of a chess game. It's a fascinating cat and mouse game in the ruins of the city. I'm glad that nobody decided to talk in a fake Russian accent. That would be too distracting. This is a rare good American war movie not about Americans.

Ed Harris (the Nazi) and Jude Law (the Russian) are matched against each other as World War II snipers serving their countries. Joseph Fiennes is also good in a pivotal role as is Bob Hoskins as Nikita Khrushchev and Rachel Weisz as a strong female character. This is a compelling look at the constantly needed reminder that simply, war is terrible and the innocent victims that suffer is even more tragic. Director Jean-Jacques Annaud's still framed direction has always lacked a depth of character development but he still makes admirable films for the high end lovers of film art.