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

7 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 | world war two soldier | weapon | 

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Taglines:

A battle between two nations became a conflict between two men.

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Genres:

Drama | History | War

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Certificate:

14A

Did You Know?

Trivia

Originally slated for release in late December, Paramount shunted it back to the following spring.

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Goofs

When Koulikov, Vassili and Volodya are going under the tunnel, Vassili spots a dead soldier. First scene shows the soldier with a grey finger. The second scene, after Vassili observes him with periscope, we see that the finger has turned red for a brief second, and after that scene we can see that he has no finger at all.

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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 Be Kind Rewind (2008)

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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

Opening the gates of my mind

At first glance I must admit I thought "Oh no!" not another war movie trying to cash in on the success that Saving Private Ryan had. However when I viewed this film it turned out to be a great surprise in my mind. Its the story of a man brought to fame in a form of propaganda to help the disintegrating Russian forces keep faith. The boy (Law) was obviously talented however nearly lost his own faith when poised against his greatest challenge, the prized German sniper. The story line throughout kept me glued to the screen leading up to a wonderful climax.

The wonder of friendship and love also have a great deal in the plot and realistically portrays both in those times of chaos and death. I urge any reader who is doubting this films credentials to swallow their pride and sit down to watch this film. You will not be disapointed in the least.

In saying this I would like to just add that I feel there could have been improvement in the accents as sometimes I was finding it hard to grasp that the Germans were fighting the Russians and not the English, but otherwise 10 out of 10.

Details

Country:

Ireland UK France Germany USA

Language:

English German Russian

Release Date:

16 March 2001 (Canada)

Also Known As:

L'ennemi aux portes

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