 Tagline: A hero never chooses his destiny. His destiny chooses him. An all-star cast lights up the screen in this riveting epic hailed as "a vivid dramatization of one of history's titanic turning points." (Gene Shalit, Today) The year is 1942 and the Nazis are cutting a deadly swath through Russia. Under the leadership of Khrushchev (Bob Hoskins), the citizens of Stalingrad are mounting a brave resistance, spurred by the exploits of their local hero, Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law). An expert sniper, Vassili's deeds have become legendary - thanks to propaganda produced by Vassili's best friend, a political officer named Danilov (Joseph Fiennes). To stop Vassili, the Germans dispatch their best sniper, Major Konig (Ed Harris), to Tagline: A hero never chooses his destiny. His destiny chooses him. Stalingrad. When Vassili and Danilov both fall in love with a beautiful soldier (Rachel Weisz), Danilov deserts his friend, leaving Vassili to face his German counterpart alone. As the city burns, Vassili and Konig begin a cunning game of cat and mouse, waging a private war for courage, honor and country. Storyline: During the WWII battle of Stalingrad, two snipers, a Russian, and a German, are locked in a battle of wills and marksmanship, while the Russian is boosted to the status of hero by a political official. Written by IMDb Eds Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Martin Liebman on May 19, 2009 -- What we need are heroes. The extended battle that defined World War II and shaped the course of history in the 20th Century, Stalingrad saw the fate of the world teeter on the brink as two superpowers faced off in one of the bloodiest confrontations in the history of mankind. Costing countless lives on both sides, the carnage wrought encompassed the entirety of the War on the Eastern front, and indeed, proved the turning point of the conflict. Though World War II saw bloody confrontations across several theaters, it was the Nazi-Soviet conflict, and the Battle of Stalingrad in particular, that defined the War and settled its outcome. Fought in the winter of 1942-43, the superior German army could never successfully take the entire the city. The cold weather, long supply lines, and the determination of the Red Army and the citizens of Stalingrad proved too much for the modernized German forces. Depicted in several films, notably among them Director Joseph Vilsmaier's superb Stalingrad and Director Jean-Jacques Annaud's Enemy at the Gates, the epic battle will never be completely re-imagined to the extent of the true devastation and despair that marked that winter, but cinema can provide a glimpse into the horrors of life amongst the rubble of the city bearing the name of the General Secretary of the Communist Party, Joseph Stalin. Boatloads of Russian soldiers cross the Volga river and charge well-fortified German positions, many mowed down before even firing a shot, and those who survive the barrage and retreat are murdered by their own officers in the rear, who shoot their men for desertion in the face of the enemy. Among the survivors of the river crossing is a young farm boy from the Ural Mountains, Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law, Gattaca), who manages to survive the barrage by hiding in a fountain littered with corpses. He soon meets a Russian propagandist, Commisar Danilov (Joseph Fiennes, The Great Raid), who also takes cover amidst the bloodied remains of his countrymen. When Zaitsev helps the bumbling Commisar load a weapon and kill five Germans in rapid succession, he is hailed as a hero when Danilov writes of him in his latest propaganda piece. Zaitsev is reassigned to the sniper division and, with each kill, his legend grows. To counteract him, the Germans bring in their own top sniper, Major König (Ed Harris, Appaloosa), to eliminate the famed Russian killing machine and once again place the Red Army and Stalingrad's populace into a state of despair. Generally, Enemy at the Gates impresses, though it never ascends to the same level as the all-time greats of the genre, notably Saving Private Ryan, Glory, Platoon, and Full Metal Jacket. The action sequences are well-staged, the danger around every corner or above that last bit of a brick wall that serves as cover palpable throughout. Through the larger, sweeping battles in particular, the movie does well to draw the audience into the danger where bullets, artillery shells, and bombs mark the landscape and spell imminent death for all but the most (un)fortunate who live but for one more day only to once again face the same devastation. Most every scene is filled with smoke, all that remains from an explosion, a crumbled structure, or the barrel of a rifle recently fired. No building, no vegetation, and no man remains unscathed, and the movie creates a believable atmosphere where one can appreciate the scope of the devastation. Likewise, the sniper duel generally enthralls, and the many twists and turns the film takes throughout the action always keeps audiences on their toes. Although much of the film's historical accuracy may be in question, it works from a purely detached sense, the action and cat-and-mouse game playing well from a cinematic perspective. Accepting most any movie as gospel truth for any historical event is a dubious-at-best proposition, for even the most accurate will embellish or omit for the sake of dramatic license, pace, time constraints, or any of dozens of other reasons a filmmaker may choose to deviate from fact. In the case of Enemy at the Gates, the film's action is derived from a strong emotional core that lends to the film plenty of gut-wrenching drama that frames both the whole of the battle and the singularity of the sniper duel exceptionally. The characters in the film are surprisingly well-developed, and their camaraderie and, in some cases and much more importantly, physical and emotional love for one another lends to the film a deeper, more personal touch that provides added weight to the action. Also working in the film's favor is a generally rapid pace that, despite material that may superficially seem monotonous, plays with plenty of raw drama that is punctuated by the action sequences. Enemy at the Gates gets it right. A fine War picture but not necessarily one of the all-time greats, the film frames the action in a human context, bringing life and emotion to its characters and building them not necessarily as heroes, but as men and women fighting to see another day. While the action serves as the fundamental point-of-interest for the film, the emotional and dramatic core lends more importance and danger to each shot fired, leaving the audience hoping for the best but anticipating the worst. In a world where smoldering ruins and bloodied corpses seem to litter every square inch of terrain, the characters struggle to survive, fighting perhaps superficially for their country and their leader but, deeper inside, for one another, for their friendships, and for their loves. Paramount's Blu-ray presentation of Enemy at the Gates might not entice hardcore Blu-ray fans to upgrade from the DVD. While the picture and sound are improved, the lack of bonus materials disappoints. Enemy at the Gates comes recommended as a rental for sure and a purchase for those yet to own the film on another format. Cast Notes: 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 N. Matveev (Grandfather [as Mikhail Matveev]). User Comment: mentalcritic from Southern Hemisphere, 28 July 2001 • 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. Summary: Easily the best thing that has come out all year. IMDb Rating (01/11/12): 7.5/10 from 82,220 users
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