There are those that see history in stark terms.  To such people, something happened one way or the other, and there is no room for interpretation.  I put forward the myriad of World War II films as a counter to this supposition.  The trailer for Enemy Line (2020) claims that it is about a plan to end World War II.  It is not the only piece of cinematic history to make such a claim.  As a Catholic, I would like to see an end to all wars, which makes current events quite distressing, but I digress.  The thing about the last globe spanning conflict is that with such a scope, there was no simple conclusion.  Never mind the complex issues underpinning its commencement, the fact that there were belligerents with seemingly aligned yet nation-specific goals meant that there were a number of factors that went into the cessation of hostilities.  After all, it took Japan nearly another half-year to surrender in 1945 after its supposed ally, Germany.  It is the latter of those axis powers who make up the focus of today’s movie, and this is one of those many stories about how we tried to put an end to one fascist regime.

Still, since I mentioned 1945 in the last paragraph, it is a little difficult to understand why Enemy Lines would begin in 1943 in Poland.  Indeed, that is not the actual start of the film.  We get a little taste of the target of a joint American and British mission, a Polish nuclear physicist named Dr. Alexander Fabian (Pawel Delag) from inside German occupied territory.  It had become possible thanks to the work of the Polish Resistance, who had obtained the necessary information to extract the scientist.  It is a plan developed by General McCloud (Corey Johnson) of the United States Army and presented to his British counterpart, Colonel Preston (John Hannah).  The Americans have a Marine Corps officer, Major Kaminski (Ed Westwick), to lead the operation, but they are hoping to recruit a British special operations team to assist.  That team, headed by Sergeant Will Davidson (Tom Wisdom), is not eager about having to answer to a Yank, but orders are orders.  Besides, Major Kaminski knows the local language, which will be an asset.  Thus, it is off to Sweden to rendezvous with a friendly fishing boat that will take them to the enemy coast.  Unfortunately, they are forced to take a row boat before they can get to shore due to German patrols.  Another problem arises when they are unable to get their radio working.  These factors serve to put the operation behind schedule, and they thus missed the spot where they had planned to ambush the convoy taking Dr. Fabian to see his family.  This one privilege had been granted the physicist in exchange for his help to the Nazis, though he is basically a prisoner.  The fact that the commandos sought to take him en route suggests that they had planned to leave behind his wife and daughter.  In the attack they make on the compound where they are being held, Dr. Fabian’s wife is killed when a German officer tries to use her as a human shield.  Despite their despair, Major Kaminski insists that they must move in order to make up for lost time.  What the team is unaware of is that there is a group of Soviets that are after the same person.  They have also disguised themselves as German soldiers, giving them easier freedom of movement.  With that, the Russians are able to deduce that they have competitors for Dr. Fabian, and they appear willing to do whatever is necessary to find him.  As for the American and the British, not only have they lost their means of communication, but they discover that their partisan contacts have moved camp.  For Major Kaminski, the only solution is to risk going to the nearby village in order to hopefully be able to ascertain the resistance’s whereabouts.  Though he is able to make contact with a friendly face, there is the danger of collaborators informing on their location.  Still, they are given the information they need, but are caught by a German patrol along the way.  It is the partisans who come to their rescue, but they are furious that Major Kaminski had gone to the settlement.  Once tempers die down, Major Kaminski is able to radio London, receiving instructions for a new pick-up point.  Remember what I said about possible traitors?  Well, that person informs the Germans, who set a trap for their small convoy, resulting in nearly everyone being killed except for those protecting Dr. Fabian, though a few of the British commandos fall.  Those who survive, including Major Kaminski and Sergeant Davidson, are taken to the home of the sole remaining Polish partisan, Sara (Ekaterina Vladimirova), to await their final move to an abandoned airfield where a C-47 should be waiting for them.  Overnight, the chemistry that had been building between Sergeant Davidson and Sara turns romantic, and we have to have that scene for some reason.  This is not just me being a square Catholic.  I genuinely do not know why this is necessary, or wise since they are being chased by the Germans and Russians.  Further, their reprieve allows to Soviets to find them, who get to Sara’s home in the morning.  She tries to get out of the situation by putting a gun to Dr. Fabian’s head, but she is shot and killed by Dr. Fabian’s daughter, Irena (Maria Bondareva).  From there, it is a mad dash to the airfield, one that results in the death of the rest of Major Kaminski men but gets Dr. Fabian to the United States where he can help with research on the atomic bomb.

On that note, the final shot in Enemy Lines is of Dr. Fabian with the bomb in the background.  It looks cheesy, as do the special effects that they used for the film.  Though the rest of the action is decent as these things go, the underdone computer-generated images (CGI) take away from the weight of the proceedings.  Nonetheless, there is a hopeful tone in the postscript explaining what happens to Dr. Fabian, or at least the person on which his character is based.  I am not sure whether he is real, and I am not going to do any in-depth research.  At any rate, he protests the building of the atomic bomb, and later wins a Nobel Peace Prize for his stance.  That is the position of the Catholic Church.  If you need any further evidence of how the Church feels about such weapons, or war in general, all you need to do is to look at recent events.  Pope Leo XIV has come out against strikes in Iran, as well as nuclear weapons, underscoring how they upset peace among nations.  There will be those who point out that it is an easy thing for a religious leader to say from the comfort of his position far removed from the fighting.  However, it is the message of Jesus that our pope is conveying.  I find a correlation to this in the movie when Sergeant Davidson talks about how he had been ordered to kill a village of Nazi collaborators in France earlier in the war.  Sara tells him that he could have said no, and sometimes that is all it takes for further bloodshed to be avoided.  Even if the death and destruction will happen anyway, at least one could be satisfied that they did not contribute to it.  If enough people had a similar attitude, imagine how much better would be this world.

I also think Enemy Lines could have been better, although they did the best they could with what seemed like a limited budget.  After all, they did have tanks in the movie.  Otherwise, it is a fair action movie with a muddled message.