Enemy at the Gates (2001)

Sometimes in movies the best ideas are lost in the drive to make the movie bigger and better. Sometimes bigger isn't better. This is one of those times.

Enemy at the Gates is the rare war movie not told from the perspective of American forces. In fact, American involvement in this story is completely missing, which actually comes as a refreshing change. We get to see a side of World War II that isn't often brought to light. The story centers around the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The German army was pushing deep into Russian territory, reaching as far as the city of Stalingrad (now known as Volgograd). There the Soviets mounted a spirited defense that yielded ground very slowly and at a massive cost to human life. In November 1942, the Soviets launched a counter offensive that trapped a large portion of the German army. Unable to retreat due to orders from Hitler, the Germans were forced to hold their ground, taking a severe pounding until finally surrendering in late January 1943. The movie itself mostly ignores the greater battle to focuse instead on a small duel between two snipers in the midst of the battle.

Jude Law plays real life soldier Vassily Zaitsev, a young man who grew up a shephard in the Urals. He arrives at Stalingrad by train and is literally dragged off it and to boats that will carry fresh troops to the battle. This begins an opening sequence that is reminiscent of the battle that opens Saving Private Ryan, although not as overwhelming. The Red Army is so short of supplies that only half the troops are given rifles. The rest are given some ammunition and orders to follow the men with rifles and pick up the guns when they are killed. During the course of the battle Vassily acquires a rifle and from hiding picks off five German officers. This is witnessed by Danilov (Joseph Fiennes), a moral officer who realizes that Vassily's talent could be just the boost the Russian people need in the midst of the brutal war. Soon Vassily is transfered to a sniper unit and his face is on the front of every Russian newspaper, trumpeting his astonishing and growing number of kills.

Russian snipers, Vassily in particular, prove effective in slowing the Germans and lowering their moral. They import their own top sniper, Major Koenig (Ed Harris) to eliminate Vassily. This begins a cat and mouse duel between the two that drives the story along. The film is wonderful in the moments between Law and Harris as they jockey for the best positions, laying traps for one another and showing remarkable skill with a rifle. Snipers by their nature mostly sit and wait in hiding waiting for an opportunity to strike. This could easily be boring but the director makes it gripping by focusing on the small things that make a sniper effective. We frequently get wonderful shots of their eyes in extreme close up, looking for the tiniest sign that will give away the opponent's position. Particularly of interest is the fact that these two men never speak so much as a word to one another.

Unfortunately the producers opted to expand the story a bit, adding a complex love triangle between Vassily, Danilov and a young woman soldier Tania (Rachel Weisz). The addition of this sub-plot does absolutely nothing to improve the story and repeatedly takes us away from the far more interesting duel. Weisz and Fiennes do all they can with a pair of particularly thankless roles but it doesn't matter in the end, this part of the movie is simply a waste.

Despite that rather major shortcoming, the rest of the movie is quite enjoyable. It was fascinating watching a movie where the Russians, long our enemies, are cast as heros. It's not the usual perspective here in America and it makes for a nice change of pace. Law and Harris both deserve considerable praise for their performances which are at their best when all alone with no other actors to work off of. It's also worth mentioning that Bob Hoskins turns in a great performance as Krushchev, who at this point in history was in charge of the Red Army's defense of Stalingrad. It's almost eerie how much Hoskins is made to resemble the (at that time) future Soviet premiere.

As I said, bigger isn't always better and this is a perfect example. Narrowing this movie's focus would have created a much more tension filled and satisfying film. As it is, the movie is just an unfortunate near miss at greatness.

- John Shea

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