Enemy At The Gates/Windtalkers/Hart’s War

Triple bill of films set during World War II. ‘Enemy at the Gates’ (2001) takes place in Stalingrad in 1942. Political Officer Danilov (Joseph Fiennes) sees young army recruit Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law) in action and realises that he is just what the Russian people need to inspire them in their fight against the German army. Zaitsev is a natural with a rifle, and Danilov arranges for him to be transferred to a sniper unit, where his actions will be publicised, thus making him into a national hero. But Zaitsev soon begins to feel he cannot live up to Danilov’s expectations, and, to make matters worse, he and Danilov both fall for the same girl (Rachel Weisz). Meanwhile, the Germans find out about Zaitsev and bring in their own top sniper, Konig (Ed Harris), to engage the young Russian in a deadly battle of wits. In the John Woo-directed ‘Windtalkers’ (2002) starring Nicolas Cage, Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach) is a Navajo Indian who signs up for the US marines to work as a radio operator in a new military program which uses the Navajo language as the basis for coded transmissions. Sent into action, Yahzee is given battle-weary sergeant Joe Enders (Cage) as a bodyguard, but remains unaware that Enders has been ordered to kill him should he fall into enemy hands. When the two men find themselves caught up in the intense close-quarters combat of the battle of Saipan, they must struggle not only against the enemy, but also to earn each other’s trust and respect. Finally, in ‘Hart’s War’ (2001), Bruce Willis stars as a US officer determined to protect the details of an escape attempt in a prisoner-of-war camp in Belgium. When racist prisoner and known traitor Sergeant Bedford (Cole Hauser) turns up murdered, suspicion turns to African-American pilot Lieutenant Scott (Terrence Howard). Colonel McNamara (Willis), the officer in charge of US prisoners, requests that Scott be put on trial and orders Lieutenant Hart (Colin Farrell) to stand as his defence counsel. In his subsequent investigations, Hart gradually uncovers new information about the killing and begins to question McNamara’s role in the proceedings.