Enemy at the Gates (2001)

Director:

Jean-Jacques Annaud

Writers (WGA):

Jean-Jacques Annaud (written by) &
Alain Godard (written by)

Release Date:

16 March 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | Thriller | War

Tagline:

Some Men Are Born To Be Heroes.

Plot:

Two Russian and German snipers play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad.

Plot Keywords:

Russian | Sniper | Stalingrad | WWII | Political Officer

Awards:

6 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Jude Law	...	Vassili Zaitsev
Ed Harris	...	Major König
Rachel Weisz	...	Tania Chernova
Joseph Fiennes	...	Commisar Danilov
Bob Hoskins	...	Nikita Khrushchev
Ron Perlman	...	Koulikov
Eva Mattes	...	Mother Filipov
Gabriel Thomson	...	Sacha Filipov (as Gabriel Marshall-Thomson)
Matthias Habich	...	General Paulus
Sophie Rois	...	Ludmilla
Ivan Shvedoff	...	Volodya
Mario Bandi	...	Anton
Hans Martin Stier	...	Red Army General
Clemens Schick	...	German NCO (as Clemans Schick)
Mikhail Matveyev	...	Grandfather (as Mikhail Matveev)

Also Known As:

Duell - Enemy at the Gates (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong graphic war violence and some sexuality.

Runtime:

131 min

Country:

USA | Germany | UK | Ireland

Language:

English | German | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #37903) | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Malaysia:18SG (uncut version) | Malaysia:U (cut version) | Philippines:R-18 | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA (original rating) | Australia:M (TV rating) | Canada:14A | Chile:14 | Finland:K-15 | France:U | Germany:16 (f) (bw) | Hong Kong:IIB | India:A | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R15 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Singapore:M18 | Singapore:PG (cut) | South Korea:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Babelsberg, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The title of the film is taken from the book "Enemy at the Gate: The Battle for Stalingrad" (1973) by William Craig, which also documents the real-life war exploits of Vasilli Zaitsev.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Zaitsev first meets Danilov (before the first five shootings), you can see many of the corpses breath in the cold air.

Quotes:

Nikita Khrushchev: Write it then - "Vasilli Zaitsev is *not* dead. This is what he had for breakfast this morning, here's a picture of him reading today's newspaper." You're the poet.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "High Chaparall: (#3.4)" (2004)

An extrordinary work of raw skill and imagination.

A gut-wrenching and impressive hide-and-seek thriller that uses the bloody battle of Stalingrad (during the second World War) as the clever disguise here for a real battle of courage and determination. The film follows a young and highly talented Russian sniper from the Urals, Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law - "eXistenZ", "The Talented Mr. Ripley"), who gains national fame from the help of Danilov (Joesph Fiennes - "Shakespeare in Love"), a propoganda officer and his true love and fellow sniper, Tania (Rachael Weisz), who is also flirting with Danilov.

However, the Germans have an ace sniper of their own in Erwin Koning (Ed Harris - "Pollock"), a seasoned and out-spoken Major who comes to Stalingrad only to pick off Vassili. And before Koning leaves, his superior officer asks how he'll find Vassili. Koning says, " I'll fix it so he finds me."

The love triangle that director Jean-Jacques Annaud and co-writer Alain Godard put in the story shows that the pair took a chance and I'll give them credit for doing it. Plus, the love scene that Law and Weisz have is one of the strangest (no offense to either one) that I've seen.

The film's best moments come when Vassili tries to catch Koning off guard, but the problem is Koning is aware of what Vassili is capable of. I won't say how it's done, but the final confrontation is a genuine nail-bitter.

All of the performances here are powerhouse and that includes Bob Hoskins as Nikita Kruschev, a snarling and impatient man and Ron Perlman, who portrays Koulikov, a lieutenant whose teeth are all metal and serves as a guide for Vassili.

Robert Frassie ("Ronin") handles the movie's photography with care and the appearrence of Stalingrad itself reminded me heavily of the war-torn cities shown in Spielsburg's "Saving Private Ryan" and Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket". Also, James Horner conducts a tender and extremely mournful score that leaves a quiet yet important reminder of how awful war is.

"ENEMY AT THE GATES" is an extrodinary work of raw skill and imagination.