Review of Enemy at the Gates (2001) by Renzo V — 08 Jun 2014

"TWO SNIPERS IN STALINGRAD".

- 'Enemy at the Gates' is a 2001 war movie from director Jean-Jac ques Annaud (Seven Years in Tibet, Two Brothers) that is set during the Battle of Stalingrad in World War II. I'm not a great fan of the genre, but I do like this film a lot. It shows the hard life during the war and the danger that people (not only men, but also women and children) put themselves in to (sometimes forced) fights for their country. With an impressive cast, starring Jude Law (Sherlock Holmes films, Artificial Intelligence), Joseph Fiennes (Elizabeth, Shakespeare in Love), Rachel Weisz (The Mummy, Constantine), Ed Harris (The Hours, The Abyss), Bob Hoskins (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Hook) and Ron Pearlman (Hellboy, Sons of Anarchy).

1942, young shepherd Vasili Zaytsev (Law) enters the frontline in the Battle of Stalingrad. Many soldiers die at the hands of the Germans, but Vasili lays low between the bodies of his fallen comrades in a dried-up fountain and is able to save himself and commissar Danilov (Fiennes). When Nikita Khrushchev (Hoskins) arrives in Stalingrad, Danilov proposes his idea to improve the moral of the Red Army by writing a propaganda article about Vasili, portraying him as a national hero. The shepherd is promoted to the sniper-squad and is closely followed by Danilov. During one of their missions, they meet the Filipov family and their neighbor Tania (Weisz), who is part of the local militia. Both men fall head over heels with her.

The Germans have deployed Major Erwin König (Harris) to Stalingrad to hunt down the Sojet hero. When König succeeds to take down two of Vasili's fellow snipers, the Red Army sends in Koulikov (Pearlman) to help the shepherd in killing his stalker. A bloody hunt begins...