Enemy at the Gates (2001)

A Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad.

Director:

Jean-Jacques Annaud

Writers:

Jean-Jacques Annaud, Alain Godard

Stars:

Jude Law, Ed Harris, Joseph Fiennes

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jude Law	...	Vassili
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 Matveev	...	Grandfather

Storyline

In World War II, the fall of Stalingrad will mean the collapse of the whole country. The Germans and Russians are fighting over every block, leaving only ruins behind. The Russian sniper Vassili Zaitsev stalks the Germans, taking them out one by one, thus hurting the morale of the German troops. The political officer Danilov leads him on, publishing his efforts to give his countrymen some hope. But Vassili eventually starts to feel that he can not live up to the expectations on him. He and Danilov fall in love with the same girl, Tanya, a female soldier. From Germany comes the master sniper König to put an end to the extraordinary skilled Russian sniper.

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Plot Keywords:

sniper | stalingrad | battle | russian | battle of stalingrad | 

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Taglines:

A single bullet can change history.

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Genres:

Drama | History | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong graphic war violence and some sexuality

Details

Country:

Ireland UK France Germany USA

Language:

English German Russian

Release Date:

16 March 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Enemigo al acecho

Filming Locations:

Germany

Box Office

Budget:

$68,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$13,810,266, 18 March 2001

Gross USA:

$51,401,758

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$96,976,270

Company Credits

Production Co:

Swanford Films, MP Film Management, Little Bird

Technical Specs

Runtime:

131 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The locomotive used for filming the troop train scene is, ironically, a German-built "Kriegslok" ("war locomotive"). About 2700 were captured by the Soviets but not used by the Soviet Railways until after the war (see Goofs).

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Goofs

The film often shows vast expanses of empty ruins within Stalingrad, particularly when Zaitsev and Konig are hunting one another. This would have been physically impossible at the Battle of Stalingrad, as hundreds of thousands, if not over a million solders were crammed into an area of only a few square miles.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Grandfather: [whispering to boy aiming rifle] I am a stone. I do not move. Very slowly, I put snow in my mouth. Then he won't see my breath. I take my time. I let him come closer. I have only one bullet. I aim at his eye. Very gently, my finger presses on the trigger. I do not tremble. I have no fear. I'm a big boy now. Ready Vassili? Now, Vassili, fire!

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Crazy Credits

The end credits are slanted and curved

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Connections

Referenced in Jeopardy!: Episode #22.40 (2005)

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Soundtracks

Hymne National De L'URSS
Music by Aleksandr Aleksandrov (as A. Alexandrow)
Lyrics by Sergey Mikhalkov (as S. Mikkhalkow)
Performed by The Red Army Choir (as Les Choers De L'Armee Rouge)
Courtesy of 7 Productions, Paris

User Reviews

brilliantly flawed ... is still brilliant

In the grand tradition of Old Hollywood, this international co-production seeks to frame the key battle of WW2 (the REAL key battle, not the ones from the John Wayne movies) as a morality tale involving a love triangle.

It is a bold idea, and beautifully executed.

In fact an argument could be made -- and I will make it -- that any flaws in the execution (it lags a bit here and there) are the result of the film-makers' "reach exceeding their grasp" and they attempted too much, more than one film could ever accomplish.

But what a film it is! You viewer feel as though you are there, making history. The four stars involved have, each of them, never given a bad performance in their careers and they surely maintain their records here.

Ed Harris in particular -- although he has less screen time -- will always to this reviewer seem a vastly under-rated actor. (This review written in 2017 where an older Harris still uses his charisma in a defining role for HBOs Westworld .... and nails it.) Recommended? Absolutely! In the Metacritic data that IMDb so helpfully provides I could not help but notice one reviewer commenting that, well, it sure isn't in the same class as SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.

Which is the irony of doing film reviews. I have never not once thought of wanting to see SAVING PRIVATE RYAN again, but this film is one I like to revisit every few years. Magnificent.