Enemy at the Gates
A Reperage production presented by
Mandalay and
Paramount Pictures
Written by Alain Godard and Jean Jacques Annud
Directed and Produced by Jean Jacques Annud
Starring:
Jude Law (Vassili Zietsev)
Ed Harris (Major Konig)
Joseph Fiennes (Danilov)
Bob Hoskins (Kruschev)
Rachel Wiesz (Tania)
Plot synopsis (Possible spoiler, you may want to turn back if you have not seen the movie):
While the Nazis and Russians are fighting on the Eastern front in 1942, sniper
Vassili Zietsev grows in popularity with the Russian citizens by nailing target after target "reporting" as many as 50 kills in a week, as Danilov tells the masses in the Russian newspapers.
The Germans hear of Vassili and send their best sharpshooter, Major Konig, after him. The movie revolves around Konig's hunt for Vassili and their personal war while the rest of World War II goes on around them.
(love story spoiler) Vassili meets Tania, a female soldier in the
Russian army. Conflict between Danilov and Vassili grows when they both fall in love with Tania.
I won't be a
bastard by spoiling the ending, go watch the movie :)
Review:
I was very pleased with this film as it was historically accurate... for the most part. I can't say much without revealing key movie points, so I'll just say there are a few mistakes in the battles between Konig and Zietsev. As mentioned above by Derby, there was a little bit of fairy tale warfare added. Otherwise, this was a relatively accurate depiction of
World War II from the
snipers'
POV. The camera work is beautiful and artistic and the weaponry (and use of weaponry) is surprisingly accurate. Even the Russian mentality of deserters not deserving to live is shown in (SPOILER) the first scene when runners are gunned down by a higher
ranked
officer from their own side with a very cool machine gun (the make of which I do not recall).
All in all, well presented, great story, and worth seeing/buying.
Rating: ****1/2 (1/2 deducted for unnecesary slight historical innacuracies)