Enemy at the Gates (2001)
WMB Rating:
(5 votes, average: 2.60 out of 5) 
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Enemy at the Gates is a dark, bleak, ultimately depressing look at one of the major bloodbaths of World War II, namely the siege of Stalingrad. More to the point, its about the battle between two snipers. Not that it improves the overall tone of the picture or anything.
Right from the get-go, you know how the rest of the film is going to be. As the Russian soldiers are herded onto the trains toward Stalingrad, and they are basically dumped into the thick of it, facing the German bullets on one side, or their own if they attempt retreat. So who's side are we supposed to be on, here, anyway?
Regardless, one man, Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law) picks up a rifle and quickly gains the admiration of the local "Komissar," Danilov (Joseph Fiennes) who builds him up as a local hero, in an attempt to get some morale behind the city. Zaitsev continues on his sniping adventure (if you want to call it that) quickly fulfiling his destiny as the hero, much to the Chagrin of the Germans.
In response, the Germans bring in a ringer, er, I mean a star of their own, one Major Koenig (Ed Harris), an aristocrat and decorated hero of his own accord. From then on it becomes a battle of wits between the two.
But we should also mention the subplot going on, that of the love triangle (sigh) between Danilov, Zaitsev, and a local girl turned soldier, Tania (Rachel Weisz). Despite all of Danilov's conniving, she falls for Zaitsev, and nearly pits these two men against each other. Luckily, that plot takes a backseat to the real action.
Quite honestly this is a difficult film to sit through. Its good, but just the gritty feel of it, and some of the choices and actions of our "heroes" leave an unpleasant taste in your mouth. The entire opening sequence, where the Russians cut down their own retreating troops they've just dumped into the fray, only half of which were given rifles, just leaves you wondering what side we're supposed to take! That initial battle just stays with you.
Then the rest of the picture just "lives" in a dark world of dirt and smoke and grit. True to life, I suppose, but it only gets darker, as Koenig and Zaitsev both hide among the rotting corpses and other nefarious actions. The whole thing culminates in probably the darkest moment, as Zaitsev and Koenig wait it out in the trainyard, under the hanging body of the young double agent.... *Shiver*
Even the final bullet, the "victory" as it were, comes across as less than victorious, as Koenig realizes he's lost and Zaitsev follows through on his grandfather's advice on aiming his rifle.
Sigh, and then they make an attempt to end the picture on an emotional high note, as Zaitsev finds the injured, (but not as dead as Danilov had reported), Tania in a hospital. Again, sigh. It's just not enough to bring us back from the depths of the hell we've spent the last two hours in. Not even close.
Bob Hoskins does a smashing job portraying a younger Nikita Kruschev. Kudos to him, the casting and makeup crew for fitting that piece of the puzzle together. Doubtful there could have been a better match there. Law is excellent as the farmboy turned reluctant war hero. He manages to maintain a certain approachability in his character, maintaining a certain amount of "innocence" for lack of a better term. Fiennes, eh, as the "party" member I suppose he does OK, although his character seems to only serve as the third corner of the love triangle, and as a device to get Zaitsev into the papers. Although his pitting the young Sasha against Koenig, knowing full well the outcome was a particularly evil twist. And then there's Koenig. Harris does a fine job, but the character seems just rather one-dimensional to me. He seems to just be there to do a job, and nothing else. I guess that's fine, but I would have liked to see him developed a little more. As he is he's just your average Nazi stooge.
I suppose, that one could look at Enemy at the Gates and draw from it issues of class struggle (the farmer turned hero vs. the defeated aristocrat) but I think that would be pushing it. Unfortunately the whole package just seems bent on delivering one "shocking moment" after another. Yes these things happened, they were terrible, but don't try to cram it all down our throats in the span of one picture.
If they'd have cut out the "epic" battle scenes, such as the beginning, and the later air-raid sequence, and tightened it down to focus more on the "duel" between Zaitsev and Koenig, this would be a spectacular work. Unfortunately the wandering focus just gets in the way.
Enemy at the Gates still gets high marks, despite its flaws. Dark and gritty can be good, but I think they overdid it here, while still trying to throw in enough hope, and a "mainstream love story" angle just didn't help matters any.
As a last note, the DVD contains several deleted scenes. Some of which were rightfully cut, but a few of them would have made Enemy at the Gates make a lot more sense, and made it more interesting. Such as Kruschev's ramblings on about Stalin, and Danilov's speech in the trench.... Just some things to think about.
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Description
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 Kruschev (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 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.
Like Saving Private Ryan, Enemy at the Gates opens with a pivotal event of World War II--the German invasion of Stalingrad--re-created in epic scale, as ill-trained Russian soldiers face German attack or punitive execution if they flee from the enemy's advance. Director Jean-Jacques Annaud captures this madness with urgent authenticity, creating a massive context for a more intimate battle waged amid the city's ruins. Embellished from its basis in fact, the story shifts to an intense cat-and-mouse game between a Russian shepherd raised to iconic fame and a German marksman whose skill is unmatched in its lethal precision. Vassily Zaitzev (Jude Law) has been sniping Nazis one bullet at a time, while the German Major Konig (Ed Harris) has been assigned to kill Vassily and spare Hitler from further embarrassment. There's love in war as Vassily connects with a woman soldier (Rachel Weisz), but she is also loved by Danilov (Joseph Fiennes), the Soviet officer who promotes his friend Vassily as Russia's much-needed hero. This romantic rivalry lends marginal interest to the central plot, but it's not enough to make this a classic war film. Instead it's a taut, well-made suspense thriller isolated within an epic battle, and although Annaud and cowriter Alain Godard (drawing from William Craig's book and David L. Robbins's novel The War of the Rats) fail to connect the parallel plots with any lasting impact, the production is never less than impressive. Highly conventional but handled with intelligence and superior craftsmanship, this is warfare as strategic entertainment, without compromising warfare as a manmade hell on Earth. --Jeff Shannon
DVD Information
Binding: DVDAspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
Manufacturer: Paramount
Original Release Date:
Actors:
- Jospeh Fiennes
- Rachel Weisz
Features
- Condition: New
- Format: DVD
- Closed-captioned; Color; Dolby; DVD; Subtitled; Widescreen; NTSC
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