B.M.S.

In high school, I became acquainted with Ken Follett when I chanced upon his novel Eye of the Needle at the municipal library, but I was not aware of its movie adaptation until I came across it while checking MGM On Demand's offering on Xfinity. Full disclosure: for some reason, when I was a kid I hated Donald Sutherland's eyes as well as his manner of speaking. I still do.

so-so movie. I dozed off a few times during its 111-minute run. 

Having read William Craig's 1973 book "Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad," on which the film is based, as well as David L. Robbins' novel "War of the Rats," the sniper duel between the film's protagonists was very familiar and easily captured my imagination as my mind went back and forth to the scenarios printed in the pages of said books and the unfolding scenes in the film.  I have watched 'Enemy at the Gates' numerous times before and in the eyes of this military enthusuast it never really gets old. Yes, I have seen the movie on blurry VHS tapes while on a bus trip from Bicol to Manila, on a pirated VCD bought in Quiapo, on a brand new DVD from Best Buy and tonight on Showtime cable TV.  Thus, to this day "Enemy at the Gates" is easily one of my favorite movies and I always made it a point to watch it or record it on DVR for later viewing whenever it came up on cable TV. In a way it became my de facto companion especially...