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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers (WGA):
Jean-Jacques Annaud (written by) &
Alain Godard (written by)
Release Date:
16 March 2001 (USA) more
Tagline:
Some Men Are Born To Be Heroes. more
Plot:
Two Russian and German snipers play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
6 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(28 articles)
Locarno 09: Review of Studio 4°C's First Squad
(From QuietEarth. 13 August 2009, 4:08 PM, PDT)
[DVD Review] Enemy at the Gates
(From JustPressPlay. 29 May 2009, 9:50 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
Easily the best thing that has come out all year... more (611 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| 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) |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
Duell - Enemy at the Gates (Germany)
more
MPAA:
Rated R for strong graphic war violence and some sexuality.
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
131 min
Colour:
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
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:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The duel between Zaitsev and Konig is fiction. There is, according to modern research, no evidence that such a battle took place. There was, though, a rumor amongst Russian soldiers about the story but no witnesses or logs support it (probably it was just a rumor created for increasing the will to fight amongst the Russian soldiers). The German who was shot in the duel was SS sniper Colonel Heinz Thorvald. The Germans claimed someone named Koenig had been shot in the duel and not Thorvald because they didn't want to admit their ace was down. This was claimed by Zaitsev, who also found the papers on the body identifying him as Thorvald. more
Goofs:
Factual errors: The scope mounted on Vasili's rifle in the movie is of the PU type. On actual pictures dated 1942 another type of scope can be seen, most likely of the (larger) PEM type. more
Movie Connections:
References The Appaloosa (1966) more
FAQ
What is the significance of the two crosses/ribbons Ed Harris' character changes nearing the end of the film?more
more (611 total)
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It would be all too easy to dismiss Enemy At The Gates as being an attempt to cash in on Saving Private Ryan's success, but in my opinion, it is a very worthy competitor. In fact, it is a better film. I say that primarily because I am sick to death of Americans using World War II as a basis for films that generally amount to little more than propaganda. Of course, Enemy At The Gates comes off as being somewhat fantastic due to its attempt to balance entertainment with historical fact, and it came as a surprise to me to learn that Sergeant Vassili Zaitsev was a real person (whose sniper rifle is still an exhibit in a Russian museum), but this makes it all the more entertaining to watch.
A lot of historians have it that the battle of Stalingrad was the most unpleasant one fought during the second World War, and this film's set design and cinematography capture that impeccably. When the Russians are battling the Nazis, you get the idea that if the Nazis didn't kill them, malnutrition, tetanus, scurvy, bubonic plague, or a million other things would. Jude Law and Joseph Fiennes lend authenticity to their roles that makes it even easier to follow them on their personal journey through hell, and Ed Harris is scarily convincing as a high-ranking Nazi. The real surprise here, however, is Rachel Weisz as Sergeant Tania Chernova, and the very heart and soul of the film. When she describes the reasons why she decided to take up a gun and battle the Germans, it all makes so much sense that you just want to buy the poor girl a beer and give her a good warm embrace. Not that such things would erase the scars that her character bears, but one would feel obligated to try.
Writer/Director Jean-Jacques Annaud, writer Alain Goddard, and cinematographer Robert Fraisse treat the subject matter with great care towards authenticity and entertainment value. It's very tricky to get these two things in proper sync, but they more than manage here. They also don't rely on any hokey photographic effects to tell the story, simply letting you see everything as clearly as possible, letting your imagination do the rest. Anyone who's read anything credible about the inhuman suffering the Russian soldiers endured during this battle will have no trouble filling in the gaps that the narrative leaves about their living conditions. The blood and gore shown during the battles is also very conducive to the atmosphere. Rather than just expecting you to believe that a solider gets his stomach spread all over half a kilometer of pavement by enemy bullets, they show you so you can get a feel for how bloodthirsty both sides in the confrontation were. Even the sex scene doesn't look out of place here.
To make a long story short, this is the first film I've seen in a long, long time that I haven't been able to come up with a list of criticisms for. It is simply excellent, and the 7.1 rating it is currently stuck with does not do it justice. It is easily superior to the likes of Platoon, the equal of more esoteric war films such as Three Kings, and it is miles above the likes of Saving Private Ryan and Pearl Harbour. Vassili Zaitsev would be very happy that his struggle has inspired such a commendable piece of art - it is exactly the sort of thing he and millions of others like him (on both sides of the planet) were fighting for.