The impressive war film "Enemy at the Gates", directed in 2001 by veteran filmmaker Jean-Jacques Annaud, marked a turning point in its genre.
Starring Jude Law and Joseph Fiennes in top form, it tells the story of the historical confrontation between the Russian snipers Vasily Zaitsev and the German Konig during the battle of Stalingrad.
What surprised me most was the meticulous and realistic reconstruction of the bloodiest and most brutal urban battle of the Second World War.
The sepia-toned photography by the master Robert Richardson and the epic music by James Horner added a chilling realism to the massacre.
But it is undoubtedly the powerful performances of its protagonists that stand out, with their long-distance psychological duel so well played.
Formally impeccable and with a tremendous technical deployment, it manages to strike a deep chord with the viewer with its raw and necessary historical lesson.
Undoubtedly, a contemporary classic of war cinema that marked my youth and will undoubtedly be studied by future generations.
It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, deservedly for Robert Richardson, and grossed over 211 million dollars globally, making it an undisputed success.
Eastern Front was the most important theatre of Second World War. Despite unimaginable levels of carnage and destruction and despite being the place where the outcome of the conflict was actually decided, it was all but completely ignored by Hollywood and, to a lesser degree, by Western cinema in general. Some argue that this could be explained with combination of Cold War and American chauvinism. In any case, Western films that deal with East Front are rare and those that do it from the Soviet perspective are even rarer. One such rare exception and one of the best known WW2 film made in 21st Century is Enemy at the Gates, 2001 film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud.
The film is loosely based on the eponymous 1973 book by American author William Craig which described the Battle of Stalingrad. The plot begins in Autumn 1942, in a time when it looks likely that the Axis Powers would win. This impression is especially strong at the Eastern Front, where Germans managed to conquer much of European Russia only to be stopped near Moscow during winter. During the summer they launched another major offensive, again forcing Red Army to retreat and the only thing that appears to be preventing victorious forces of General Friedrich Paulus (played by Matthias Habich) from advancing across Volga towards Urals appears to be industrial city of Stalingrad. Soviets have improvised last defence line there which they desperately try to strengthen by sending reinforcements made of untrained recruits. One of them is Vassily Zaitsev (played by Jude Law), young shepherd from Urals. While trying to cross Volga, his contingent is decimated both by Luftwaffe and by Soviet political commissars with orders to shoot anyone trying to swim back. Those that survive don’t fare much better – they are immediately ordered to charge German lines despite only half of them having weapons, while the rest being advised to get it from their fallen comrades. Zaitsev is among the latter, but when he lays his hand of rifle it turns out that he is very skilful with it and he manages to shoot five high ranking German officers. This feat was witnessed by political commissar Danilov (played by Joseph Fiennes) who gets an idea to use Zaitsev as someone that could give good example and rally until then demoralised Red Army. Danilov’s superior Nikita Khruschev (played by Bob Hoskins) agrees with the plan. Zaitsev is transferred to elite sniper battalion and becomes a media star. There she meets Tania Chernova (played by Rachel Weisz), young and beautiful woman who is an also sniper, but when he falls in love with her, that affects his friendship with Danilov. In the meantime, Zaitsev has killed so many German officers that now they have problems with morale. Berlin sends their expert marksman Major Koenig (played by Ed Harris) whose sole task is to find and kill Zaitsev, thus turning the battle again in German favour. During their first encounters Koenig proves to be cold and calculated professional while Zaitsev, who was never pleased with his role as a hero, begins to doubt about the outcome about the increasingly personal contest.
The most impressive part of Enemy at the Gates happens at the very beginning, when French director Jean-Jacques Annaud brings viewers to realities of Stalingrad in the scene that shows protagonist’s baptism of fire. Scenes in which masses of Soviet soldiers get massacred both by enemy and their superiors include levels of violence and intensity that could be easily compared with the opening of Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan. However, after the audience has introduced to the modern war in which protagonist can evade certain death only by a mere chance, two films take different paths. While Spielberg had clear and coherent story, Annaud and his co-writer Alan Godard give impression that the Battle of Stalingrad was a task too big for them. The rest of the film represents strange and not particularly effective combination of melodrama and western – genres that usually don’t come to mind when someone wants to depict one of the biggest battles in history. Another problem is in characters being oversimplified, often at the expense of historical accuracy and plausibility. Even the viewers less familiar with Stalingrad will have a problem with battle involving hundred of thousands of soldiers suddenly stopping only to have two men play hide and seek in the ruins of apparently empty city. Annaud also tries to give the film political dimension in line with 21st Century sentiments so some characters, like cynical Soviet soldier Koulikov (played by Ron Perlman), when discussing war uses every opportunity to remind anyone of Soviet leader Stalin having a pact with German leader Hitler. But the worst thing about Enemy at the Gates, just like with Pearl Harbor released few months later, is padding a war story with unconvincing and weak love triangle (although, according to some sources, Zaitsev indeed had romantic relationship with Chernova).
From a strictly technical standpoint, Enemy at the Gates is a good film. Robert Freisse’s cinematography with its grey overtones easily creates atmosphere of despair in which protagonist find themselves in. Locations in former Eastern Germany are put to good use, including ruins of former Soviet military base which stands for ruined city. James Horner delivered good musical soundtrack and special effects are solid. Jude Law, although some may argue that his casting was on account of his looks, takes his role of ignorant peasant turned into hero quite seriously. Rachel Weisz is also good as his romantic partner. Ed Harris effectively plays protagonist’s opponent as cold, occasionally kind but ultimately ruthless and villainous man. Joseph Fiennes, on the other hand, overacts in his role of Danilov and otherwise realisable Bob Hoskins would impress more because of his physical resemblance to future Soviet leader Khruschev than quality of his acting.
Enemy at the Gates is a flawed film and even more flawed to those who are actually familiar with the battle. Annaud, like many film makers in similar situations, had to simplify an event that took months to play out and involved millions of people. A lot of historical facts were discarded for the sake of spectacle and melodrama (and that includes near-mythical human wave tactics used by Soviets). Even the importance of Zaitsev was overemphasised, just like Khruschev appears as important figure solely for being familiar to audience over his post-war political career; most of viewers, on the other hand, probably haven’t heard of much more important but less Hollywood-friendly figures like Rokossovsky, Manstein, Chuikov and Eremenko. Enemy at the Gates after its premiere at Berlin Film Festival had decent box office results, but the critics weren’t impressed and, interestingly enough, both German and Russian critics weren’t pleased with the way Annaud handled that historical event. Those who watch the film are likely to agree with such verdict and many would agree that the subject deserved a better screen treatment.
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