Enemy at the Gates

Vassili is an excellent shot and he's clever. We see him dispatch six or so Nazis, with the others in their midst not even noticing because of the way he's timed his shots to coincide with explosions. Danilov has Vasily transferred to the sniper division and proceeds to make him into a national hero by writing skillfull propaganda. Danilov and Vassili's friendship is tested by their common desire for beautiful Tanya, a fellow soldier. Daniliv feels a special desire for her since they are both Jewish, but she is more drawn to Vassili's bravery.

Meanwhile, Vassily is picking off Nazi officers all over Stalingrad. The Nazis decide this won't do and send the aristocratic head of their sniper school, Major Konig (played by Ed Harris), to finish off the young sharpshooter. This is played up by Daniliv as an epic class struggle in the best tradition of Soviet propaganda. The movie moves to its conclusion with the struggle between and Vassily and Konig and the love triangle involving Vassily, Daniliv and Tanya as the central elements.

Did you ever think you'd see stirring site of the hammer and sickle waving in the breeze, while cheering soldiers circled it, in a Hollywood movie? Joseph McCarthy must be whirling in his grave. Seriously, it was great to see history portrayed from a non-American viewpoint. There were no American characters in this film.


well acted mish mash history drama   March 19, 2001
 2 out of 8 found this review helpful

I didn't come away from this movie feeling it was a complete waste of time but it was a waste of resources, $90million worth on sets and costumes and authenticity for a basically theatrical production. All the actors put in good performances particularly ed harris. The film basically never gets to grips with its material or the setting. Are we grateful to the russians for saving us from fascism and being utterly cruel and heartless in the process or should we revile them as they were in the cold war ? This is not a dilemma the film answers but just raises over and over while pointing out these are all people who love and hate and are weak and strong and they are in a war, apart from that the war could be anywhere. Lack of vision is what i'm talking about. For example the film actually opens to tell how far the "german jackboot" has put its heel into Europes back, well so what if you were unaware of a war in Russia or a place called Stalingrad in history this piece of information is next to useless to citizens of 2001. It is clumsy and at best school room history. Then theres the whole issue of the central character and his conscience over killing so many for whatever cause. Little effort is made to see inside the characters beyond some minor lines about the obvious side of killing for example Zaitsev explains to a would be sniper that these are real people they are killing but he could be talking about buying cucmbers at the supermarket for all his zeal in the task. The script is poor and does no service for a new europe seeking truths in the past for all that the film is just another technical production success with a well acted drama element not untypical of a tv show like wings of war. I particularly enjoyed the romance section of the film even if cliched


excellent   March 18, 2001
 1 out of 6 found this review helpful

great dipiction of Stanlingrad in WW2 plenty of action with a love story that adds nothing, and really wasn't neccassary overall, i really enjoyed it! so did my friends


Classic War Movie   March 17, 2001
 1 out of 6 found this review helpful

In my book this is one of the best war films ever made. Jude Law is spectacular. Ed Harris and Joseph Fiennes aren't slouches either. Like Saving Private Ryan, this is also great moviemaking that puts you believably inside a war zone, this time in Stalingrad.


The Battle of Stalingrad brought to life!   March 17, 2001
 2 out of 5 found this review helpful

I just got back from seeing the movie, and my first thoughts after leaving the theatre was that this movie was excellent. The opening battle sure gave you an idea about how the movie was going to be. The commanders would shout out something like; "the first man with the rifle shoots, the other man follows.. when the first man is killed, the second man grabs the rifle and shoots". It was quite graphic, basically on the same level as Saving Private Ryan.

There are numerous battle sequences throughout the movie. Most are short, which was kind of a bummer, I was hoping they would be longer.

The bombing raids were awesome. I thought those had the best special effects in the whole film, second would be the dive bombers attacking the boats on the Volga River.

The whole plot of this movie is a duel between a Russian and German sniper. Much of it was very suspensful and exciting. Unfortunatly there are breaks in the film which slow it down, but I guess all that love triangle stuff was put in to attract women viewers to the movie.

Some of the other reviews I've read complained about the story. Overall I thought it was very good, and didn't take anything away from it. Another thing about this movie is how well they re-created the look of Stalingrad at that time. Those sets must have been huge, because hardly any of it looks like it was computer generated. Just an awesome look and feel, even better than SPR in that department.

This is a great film, I highly recommend it.. I'm definetly going to go see it again!