mpdmartin Enemy at the Gates (2001) Reviewed by Martin Davis. Retrospect Film on Facebook. Stalingrad 1942. The Third Reich have swept through Europe and deep into the heart of Mother Russia. The Red Army and Hitler's troops are engaged in bitter hand to hand combat amidst the ruins of the city. Director Jean-Jacques Annaud's World War II epic opens with an uncompromising depiction of the brutality of war as hundreds of newly arrived Russian soldiers attempt a near suicidal mission to cross the Volga into Stalingrad. Under heavy land and aerial bombardment, any man attempting desertion is shot down with a bullet from a Soviet officers pistol. Finding themselves isolated amongst the fallen bodies of their comrades, Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law) and Commisar Danilov (Joseph Fiennes) make good their escape after Vassili demonstrates his impressive marksmanship skills with a rifle. Meanwhile, future Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev (Bob Hoskins) has arrived in Stalingrad and demands ideas to improve the peoples battered morale. Danilov, now a Senior Lieutenant, starts a propaganda campaign in the army newspaper about Vassili's exploits and the farmers boy from the Ural Mountains, taught to shoot by his Grandfather, is transferred to the sniper division and rapidly becomes a national hero. Having become friends, Vassili and Danilov both begin a romantic involvement with a girl from Stalingrad, Tania (Rachel Weisz) a Private in the local militia. With the Soviet snipers increasingly gaining the upper hand on their German counterparts, Major Erwin König (Ed Harris) is sent in to take out Vassili and crush the Russian peoples spirit. So begins a deadly game of cat and mouse. The two protagonists are polar opposites. One, the shepherd boy with a steady hand and a sharp eye but with increasing doubts as to whether he can defeat his enemy. The other, the aristocratic German, supremely confident and equally adept with a snipers rifle. Vassili and Tania have meanwhile fallen in love and driven by jealousy Danilov attempts to discredit his friend to his superiors, resulting in fatal consequences. Based on the 1973 non fiction book 'Enemy at the Gates – The Battle for Stalingrad' by William Craig, the film is a brilliantly told tale of conflict, love and betrayal and succeeds as not just a war film but also as an historical drama and love story. Martin Davis. Retrospect Film on Facebook

Kirpianuscus I am not fan of war films. but Enmy at the Gate is real special. not a surprise for Jean Jacques Annaud. but an useful discover of the manner to present a delicate subject. sure, the love story, the friendship who becomes rivalry, the psychological battle between a simple peasant and a brilliant officer, the propaganda , the pink sacrifice of Danilov and the end are only ordinary, easy solutions for conquer large categories of public. but the revelation remains the performance of Jude Law, surely, too refined for a peasant for Ural but inspired for use the possibilities of a becoming star of propaganda, preserving his simple nature. the grace to build his Vasily Zaitsev is the basic virtue of film. the second good surprise is the Khrutchev of Bob Hoskins. sure, the Stalingrad is far by the sketch from this film. the Soviet regime, suggested in few traits, are profound different by the image from Enemy at the Gates. but it is not a documentary. and the title, who reminds Hannibal in front to Rome, has the gift to define the universal significance of the story.

Leofwine_draca This effective movie has a great, epic background over which to play the story - the battle of Stalingrad in World War II, which left the city in smouldering ruins and hundreds of soldiers (on both sides) dead. Like with most modern blockbusters, the budget is big (the biggest in Europe, it has been said), and there are plenty of authentic bombing raids and gun battles in this action-packed movie which only slightly drags towards the end. CGI fighters spit bombs down on to the ruined streets and the smoke from dozens of explosions fills the sky to great effect in some truly breath-taking battle sequences. The film doesn't shy away from the violence either, preferring to show in graphic detail the sight of bullets erupting through bodies and exploding heads, blood everywhere, particularly in a disturbingly realistic scene showing enemy fire peppering a group of soldiers huddled together on a boat.Over this intense background plays a story that is in parts a thriller, a tragedy, and a romance. The various plot strands are mingled perfectly to make one smooth-running film as a whole with well-drawn characters you can really care about. In particular, Jude Law gives a convincing portrayal of an innocent farmer boy, initially terrified out of his life when he is thrown headlong into battle, and gradually turning into a war hero through the propaganda of his friend Danilov (an understated and effective turn from Joseph Fiennes).The initial sequence in which Law proves his worth as a sniper is an excellently-shot piece of action. Into the story comes Rachel Weisz, as the love interest, a female Russian soldier, and there's even a love triangle thrown in there too for good measure between her, Law and Fiennes. However, most scenes are stolen by Ed Harris (looking very much like Anton Diffring) as Major Konig, a German war hero and top-notch sniper who engages in some tense and suspenseful cat-and-mouse games in the rubble of Stalingrad, sequences which are the best in the movie. Good support comes from a near-unrecognisable Bob Hoskins as Khrushchev, and Ron Perlman as a fellow sniper with a mouth full of metal teeth.ENEMY AT THE GATES is a well-made and intelligent blockbuster, convincingly portraying the realism of the war, peppered with many memorable scenes such as the macabre image of a young boy hanging from ruins on the horizon. Although the outcome is to be expected, the journey there is an eventful and often surprising one and never less than watchable. A shame that all modern blockbusters aren't often as intelligently scripted or acted as this film is.

NateWatchesCoolMovies Jean Jacques Annaud's Enemy At The Gates makes a harrowing impact on the WWII genre, with a scope and vision that successfully transports us to the nightmarish battle of Stalingrad, near the tail end of an era of never ending bloodshed and terror. The large scale battle scenes which usually populate this type of film have been distilled into a much more intimate and exciting style of confrontation: elite sniper warfare. In the hollow, ash laden shell of a once great city, Russian patriot and expert sharpshooter Vassily (a barely acceptable, miscast Jude Law) tries to survive a nerve rattling battle of both the will and the gun against the German's answer to his legendary tactics, icy Major Koenig (a primal Ed Harris). Another man, Danilov (Joseph Fiennes) is a brainy scholar who spins tales of his friend Vassily's heroic exploits to stir Russia into a frenzy effort in the desperate final weeks of the war. The two are steadfast friends and vital assets to both each other and their country, until of course, a girl comes between them. Tania (Rachel Weisz) is a Jewish soldier who falls deeply in love with Vassily, boldly acted by her in a powerfully affecting sex scene that shows what passion Rachel is capable of in her work. She has the skill to turn a character that's purposefully written to fail the Bechtel test miserably into something more than the script ever envisioned, and is one of the best actresses working today. There's a grouchy supporting turn from Bob Hoskins as an infamous military higher up, and a brief but memorable appearance by Ron Perlman as a disillusioned Russian soldier who's taken enough crap and seen too much. What makes this film such a winner is the excruciatingly suspenseful sniper battle between Vassily and Koenig, each a coiled viper of awaiting violence, scanning the horizon along with the camera, breaths drawn alongside the audience, ready to spring into explosive action and knock our socks off in one of the most impressive wartime duels in cinema. It's been said that the purest form of war is one on one. This film takes that notion and runs laps with it, throwing unending tension at us that doesn't let us go from its vice grip till the blood flows in tandem with our ragged exhales, long pent up in clammy apprehension.