Enemy at the Gates (DVD, 2001, Checkpoint)

This is a story for mature audience only. It parallels in some way the 300 and the stand at Thermopolis Pass, except the Battle for Stalingrad is not fought with SGI special effects, but with convincing realities. As in the 300, the mythology comes from actual events and people.

Jude Law is the boy-become-hero and the supporting cast is phenomenal. While the Russians were hopeless out-numbered by the Nazi guns, tanks, and bomber planes, they held thier own in the propaganda war, printing newspapers to offset the terrifying and relentless Nazi loudspeaker announcements. The snipers kept the Nazi war machine at bay between counter attacks of the Red Army, whose soldiers often had to charge without a weapon in hand. In desperation, the Nazi try to counter sniper warfare, to kill the heroes that sustained the Russian hope. Intense dramatic encounters where hunter becomes prey are the main feature of the story. There is a love interest but hard to understand considering all the blood and gore. Perhaps it is a paeon to the American audience that might not understand why woman are soldiers.