Game of Eyes and Minds

The Movie: Enemy at the Gates, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud
Recommendation: Von Gauzen
Reason: "Look Gwen, Rachel Weisz!"

Near the end of World War 2, Hitler set his sights on Russia and made a hard push to the Mother Country. Standing in his way were millions of Russians, and a military willing to send them to their deaths. In particular, there was a city called Stalingrad. In a battle that's considered to be the single largest in human history, the Russians and the Germans fought each other for every room, every doorway and eventually every chunk of rubble in Stalingrad. Amidst the chaotic meatgrinder that unfortunate city became, Jean-Jacques Annaud tells an intriguing fiction of egos both national and personal.

The battle between Vasiliy Grigor´yevich Zaytsev and Major König didn't really happen, though Zaytsev was a real person. He didn't get his happy ending with Tania. The rest of the film is an earnest and genuine effort to weave a tale about nationalism and personal life, and it hits more than it misses. Amidst some excellent special effects, Jude Law puts on a great performance, backed quite nicely by Rachel Weisz. Joseph Fiennes had a few moments that nearly slipped awry, but he was capable of enough restraint to keep his character's high emotions from soaring into comedy.

The visuals were quite well done, the costuming very effective. Little touches here and there, shots of hesitant soldiers and panicking civilians really added to the movie. I thought the music was a very wonderful touch, very unobtrustive.

-55/365 down, 310/365 to go