Taglines: A single bullet can change history.
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 start 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.
Enemy at the Gates is a 2001 French-American war film written and directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and based on William Craig’s 1973 nonfiction book Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad, which describes the events surrounding the Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942 and 1943. The film’s main character is a fictionalized version of sniper Vasily Zaytsev, a Hero of the Soviet Union during World War II. It includes a snipers’ duel between Zaytsev and a Wehrmacht sniper school director, Major Erwin König.
About the Story
In 1942, following the invasion of the Soviet Union the year before, Vasily Zaitsev (Jude Law), a shepherd from the Ural Mountains who is now a soldier in the Red Army, finds himself on the front lines of the Battle of Stalingrad. Forced into a suicidal charge by barrier troops against the invading Germans, he uses impressive marksmanship skills—taught to him at a young age by his grandfather—to save himself and commissar Danilov (Joseph Fiennes).
Nikita Khrushchev (Bob Hoskins) arrives in Stalingrad to coordinate the city’s defences and demands ideas to improve morale. Danilov, now a senior lieutenant, suggests that the people need figures to idolise and give them hope, and publishes tales of Vasily’s exploits in the army’s newspaper that paint him as a national hero and propaganda icon. Vasily is transferred to the sniper division, and he and Danilov become friends. They also both become romantically interested in Tania Chernova (Rachel Weisz), a citizen of Stalingrad who has become a private in the local militia. Danilov has her transferred to an intelligence unit away from the battlefield.
With the Soviet snipers taking an increasing toll on the German forces, German Major Erwin König (Ed Harris) is deployed to Stalingrad to take out Vasily and thus crush Soviet morale. A renowned marksman and head of the German Army sniper school at Zossen, he lures Vasily into a trap and kills two of his fellow snipers, but Vasily manages to escape. When the Red Army command learns of König’s mission, they dispatch König’s former student Koulikov (Ron Perlman) to help Vasily kill him. König, however, outmaneuvers Koulikov and kills him with a very skillful shot, shaking Vasily’s spirits considerably. Khrushchev pressures Danilov to bring the sniper standoff to a conclusion.
Sacha, a young Soviet boy, volunteers to act as a double agent by passing König false information about Vasily’s whereabouts, thus giving Vasily a chance to ambush the major. Vasily sets a trap for König and manages to wound him, but during a second attempt Vasily falls asleep after many sleepless hours and his sniper log is stolen by a looting German soldier. The German command takes the log as evidence of Vasily’s death and plans to send König home, but König does not believe Vasily is dead.
The commanding German general takes König’s dog tags to prevent Russian propaganda from profiting if König is killed. König also gives the general a War Merit Cross that was posthumously awarded to König’s son, who as a lieutenant in the 116th infantry division was killed in the early days of the Battle for Stalingrad. König tells Sasha where König will be next, suspecting that the boy will tell Vasily. Tania and Vasily have meanwhile fallen in love and have sex in the Russian barracks at night. The jealous Danilov disparages Vasily in a letter to his superiors.
Enemy at the Gates (2001)
Directed by: Jean-Jacques Annaud
Starring: Joseph Fiennes, Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, Bob Hoskins, Ed Harris, Sophie Rois, Ivan Shvedoff, Gabriel Thomson, Hans Martin Stier, Mario Bandi
Screenplay by: Jean-Jacques Annaud, Alain Godard
Production Design by: Wolf Kroeger
Cinematography by: Robert Fraisse
Film Editing by: Noëlle Boisson, Humphrey Dixon
Costume Design by: Gudrun Leyendecker, Janty Yates
Set Decoration by: Simon Wakefield
Art Direction by: Peter Francis, Neil Lamont, Steven Lawrence, Dominic Masters
Music by: James Horner
MPAA Rating: R for strong graphic war violence and some sexuality.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: March 16, 2001
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