Enemy at the Gates (2001) Review

This is a very unusual American film about WWII. There are no Americans. This is because Enemy at the Gates takes place in Stalingrad. Among the explosions and shooting there is a much closer battle that emerges between two snipers, one Russian and one German. Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, Enemy at the Gates tells the mostly true story of Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law), a shepherd boy from the Urals of Russia, who after proving his marksmanship to a political officer named Danilov (Joseph Fiennes) and Nikita Khrushchev (Bob Hoskins who looks remarkably like the real thing), is promoted to sniper division. There he becomes a legend of the battle of Stalingrad (thanks largely due to Danilov's skill at public relations) taking down one German officer at a time. This gets the attention of the Nazis who bring in their best sniper. Major Konïg (Ed Harris) has never failed to kill a target and, as Vissili says at one point in the film, is a better marksman.

This is a highly suspenseful film that creates that classic cat-and-mouse relationship between the hero and the villain. It isn't about the battle around them so people looking for big explosions are probably going to want to shut off the movie after the first ten minutes. The best scenes are the ones in which each one knows that the other is there but doesn't quite have a clear shot. This is largely accomplished by the production design. It was done by Wolf Kroeger, who is a production designer who understands the subtleties necessary in war films.

Earlier I mentioned that this was only mostly based on a true story is because of a rather Hollywood like love triangle that exists between Danilov, Zaitsev and a Russian Jew named Tania Chernova (Rachel Weisz). I don't think that love triangle existed but I'm willing to let it go because the truth is Rachel Weisz is a very nice to look at. Besides, it's a lot more believable than the love triangle in another World War II movie released the same year.

I wonder who decided that all of the Russian characters shouldn't have Russian accents. Apparently the Allies consisted of two main countries because the only accents I heard were English and American (thanks for the effort Mr. Harris). Even Annaud's frequent collaborator Ron Perlman, who is not English, has an English accent while he plays a sniper who's supposed to help Vassili kill the bad guy.

★★★