"What happens when two combatants of a massive conflict are isolated from their reasons for fighting each other? The idea that soldiers on opposite sides could find common ground because of an abrupt change of context is, by no means, a new idea. It wasn't new in 1985, and it's not new now. However, what the film did was to bring this trope to science fiction in a way that was both startlingly new and paradoxically timeless."
"Enemy Mine tells the story of Will Davidge (Dennis Quaid), a human starfighter pilot who crash-lands on a planet at the same time as one of his enemies, a member of the reptilian alien species known as the Dracs. This downed Drac is named Jeriba Shigan (Louis Gossett Jr.), later nicknamed "Jerry" by Davidge. The big twist in the movie comes fairly early, and that's the fact that in Drac biology, a male like Jerry is the one to give birth to a child."
Enemy Mine follows human pilot Will Davidge and a Drac named Jeriba Shigan who crash-land on a hostile planet and must cooperate to survive. Drac biology makes the male Jeriba the gestating parent, and Davidge assists in the birth. Jeriba dies in childbirth, leaving Davidge to raise the Drac child Zammis. The film treats the pregnancy matter-of-factly and earns Davidge's protective bond through naturalistic storytelling. The story blends wartime enemies finding common ground with science-fiction elements and a sensitive exploration of caregiving, grief, and cross-species empathy.
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