Enemy at the Gates (2001)

Director:

Jean-Jacques Annaud

Writers (WGA):

Jean-Jacques Annaud (written by) &
Alain Godard (written by)

Release Date:

16 March 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | Thriller | War

Tagline:

Some Men Are Born To Be Heroes.

Plot:

Two Russian and German snipers play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad.

Plot Keywords:

Russian | Sniper | Stalingrad | WWII | Rifle

Awards:

6 nominations

Cast

Jude Law	...	Vassili Zaitsev
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 Matveyev	...	Grandfather (as Mikhail Matveev)

Also Known As:

Duell - Enemy at the Gates (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong graphic war violence and some sexuality.

Runtime:

131 min

Country:

USA | Germany | UK | Ireland

Language:

English | German | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #37903) | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Malaysia:18SG (uncut version) | Malaysia:U (cut version) | Philippines:R-18 | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA (original rating) | Australia:M (TV rating) | Canada:14A | Chile:14 | Finland:K-15 | France:U | Germany:16 (f) (bw) | Hong Kong:IIB | India:A | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R15 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Singapore:M18 | Singapore:PG (cut) | South Korea:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Babelsberg, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The character of Ludmilla is a possible reference to another famous Soviet sniper, Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who had over 300 kills, even more than that of Vassili Zaitsev, who had around 257 kills.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The countries shown in the animated sequence as having been conquered by Germany in 1942 are incorrect. Switzerland and Turkey, for instance, were neutral and had not been invaded.

Quotes:

Danilov: Do you know how to shoot?
Vasilli: A little.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Team Fortress 2 (2007) (VG)

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.