Enemy at the Gates
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(This post was updated on )
 It's 1942 and the German and Russian armies are embroiled in one of the most momentous battles of WW2, the Battle of Stalingrad. Defeat at Stalingrad could hand Germany victory in Europe and Stalin has sent Kruschev to personally oversee the city's defence.
In another corner of the city Danilov, a political officer, encounters Vassili Zaitsev, a simple soldier from the Urals who possesses an extraordinary skill, he is a first-class shot with and iorn will. Danilov realises that Zaitsev could be moulded into exactly what Kruschev needs in order to boost troop morale. Zaitsev join a sniper unit and his dangerous missions are chronicled and embellished upon by Danilov and before long a hero is born. But while Zaitsev's glory rejuvenates others, Danilov becomes jealous of the man he created when they both fall in love with Tania, a courageous comrade fighting in the ranks along side them. Eager to break the Russians' new found resistance the Germans draft in Major Konig, their own celebrated sniper. As the battle wages on, these two lethal sharpshooters engage in their own personal deadly duel, stalking each other amongst the rubble of the symbolic city of Stalingrad. Autumn 1942. As the Nazis struggle to take hold of Stalingrad, Russian sniper Vassili Zaitsev is built into a local hero by propaganda officer Danilov, his expert shooting skills boosting fading morale. His supremacy is challenged by the arrival of crack German marksman Major Konig, and an intensely private battle begins as the war rages around them. Reputedly the most expensive Euro project ever produced, it's easy to see where the money went on Jean-Jacques Annaud's thoroughly entertaining World War II drama. In tackling a real-life chapter from the Russian war, Annaud certainly doesn't skimp on the breathtaking spectacle. Early scenes of the Russian army on boats being bombarded by aircraft - footsoldiers scrabbling over the sides to safety are shot by their officers for deserting - and the subsequent scramble across Stalingrad Square are writ large and spectacular, the mêlée captured in muted, harrowing tones. Surprisingly believable as a man of action, Law looks every inch the haunted sniper. His scenes with Fiennes capture the warm friendship between the two, but both actors struggle to find depth in characters that lack sides and shades. The story throws up interesting brain food about the nature of propaganda and the paradoxes of Zaitesev's (Law) popularity – he is a lone hero in a land that believes in the equality of people – yet fails to follow these themes up. Moreover, the three-way love story between Zaitsev, Danilov (Fiennes) and literate soldier Tania (an adequate Weisz) fails to convince. While the single love-making scene gets a believable scene of grabbed intimacy, the ménage-à-trois often lapses into a movie-movie feel that is at odds with the realistic tone of the combat footage. Similarly, the script lacks the political intelligence (an overly earnest voice over intones, "Europe lies crushed beneath the Nazi jackboot") and the sense of complexity that marks out the best of epic cinema. Compounding the simplistic tone of the piece, Bob Hoskins lends an overwrought presence as Khrushchev. Yet where Enemy At The Gates really impresses is in its central tussle between natural sharpshooter Zaitsev and clinical assassin Konig (Harris). Annaud gets fascinating mileage in the duel of wits between the two men – to ascertain Zaitsev's position, Konig sends out a Russian captive dressed as a Nazi, hoping Zaitsev will shoot – filled with nifty sniper technology. The duel reaches its high point in a gripping, expertly crafted set-piece as, stranded without his gun, Zaitsev takes refuge behind a cooker in a derelict factory and Konig is forced to flush the Russian out. The quality turn of the movie, Ed Harris is great as a reserved, calculating marksman, but always hints at a buried humanity (as in his scenes with a Russian moppet), never lapsing into the typical Nazi monster. For all its nods towards gritty authenticity, Enemy At The Gates occasionally feels like a throwback to an older style of war movie in its lack of historical savvy and caricatured love story. Yet, the sense of scale and action in general, and the central duel between superstar snipers in particular, more than compensate, serving up a gripping battle of wits.  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 Matveyev ... Grandfather (as Mikhail Matveev) IMDB TRAILER Download Torrent 
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