The Automatik

Jude Law is one of the most gorgeous creatures ever to smolder across the big screen. Yeah, but can he act? Law’s career has been dominated by roles as the handsome, cocksure bastard with the devastating grin. But as Vassili Zietsev, the sniper hero of the Red Army, Law doesn’t have much to smile about. His kill record is impressive and thousands worship him, but the Nazis have already destroyed Stalingrad and it is not a pretty sight.

The opening scenes of the film are brutal, but there are no grandiose Jerry Bruckheimer pyrotechnics. This is war, and war is hell, boys. Instead of concentrating on the enormity of WW II, filmmaker Jean-Jacques Annaud (The Name of the Rose) shows us gritty drama: the small, human stories, the little victories and pleasures that come few and far between and thusly, are cherished dearly.

Friendship and romance that flourish in the face of war are always engrossing plot lines, but in Enemy, they seem more genuinely touching than usual. Law and co-stars Rachel Weisz and Joseph Fiennes say more with a sideways glance, a clenched jaw, or a shy smile than a scriptful of dialogue. For once, the good looks of all three actors seem to be inconsequential. Several scenes moved me to almost uncontrollable tears, so vivid and realistic were the emotions that the actors conveyed.

The film paints a thought-provoking portrait of how ideologies can fragment when they walk off the pages of manifestoes and into one’s real life. Enemy at the Gates shows that heroes of mythic proportions are often mere human beings subject to insecurities, greed and envy as well as tenderness and passion.

And yes, Jude Law can act.