Enemy at the Gates
A turning point in 20th century war history is the focus of this fact-based account of the 1942-1943 battle of Stalingrad, in which the Germans were finally defeated by Russian influence -- one of the bloodiest battles in World War II history. The film stars Jude Law as Vassili, a marksman from the Urals who is transported to Stalingrad in 1942, and a master German sniper, Major Koenig (Ed Harris). Koenig, an expert German sniper, is determined to eliminate his formidable opponent by any means necessary; meanwhile, Vassili has joined forces with Danilov (Joseph Fiennes), a young Russian political adversary, who is impressed by Vassili's skills and raises his profile in the Soviet Union. Both Vassili and Danilov become involved with Tanya (Rachel Weisz), whose Jewish parents have been captured by the Germans and have forced her to take up with the men on a sniper expedition. Koenig and Vassili begin to develop traps for each other, until fate inevitably must bring the two sharpshooters together. This large-scale production, financed mostly by Teuton companies, also features Bob Hoskins as Nikita Krushchev and Ron Perlman as an aging Russian sniper. more..
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud
Starring: Jude Law, Joseph Fiennes,Ed Harris, Rachel Weisz
Any flaws in execution pale against those moments when the film brings history to vital life.
It's remarkable, a war story told as a chess game where the loser not only dies, but goes by necessity to an unmarked grave.
Enemy at the Gates has its deficiencies, but the first-rate cast is not among them.
Annaud's epic might have worked better dramatically as a smaller, more focused picture. The best scenes simply involve Law and Harris playing sneaky professional games (less cat-and-mouse than cat-and-cat) with each other.
As long as you focus on the central sniper-versus-sniper story -- and not the dreadful mishmash of jarring accents or the film's unconvincing romantic subplot or any of the personal relationships -- you'll enjoy it.
Robert Fraisse
British Society of Cinematographers (2001)
Best Actor
European Film Awards (2001)
Harry Awards (2002)
Best Sound Editing - Foreign Film
Motion Picture Sound Editors (2002)
No lists