# Enemy at the Gates (2001)

### reviewed by
Bob Bloom

Enemy at the Gate (2001). 2 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, Joseph Fiennes, Ed Harris, Bob Hoskins, Ron Perlman and Gabriel Marshall-Thomson. Written by Jean-Jacques Annaud and Alain Godard. Directed by Annaud. Rated R..

Enemy at the Gates opens with scenes of stark brutality that try to match the ferocious realism of Steven Spielbergís Saving Private Ryan.

In this scenario, a group of Soviet soldiers are being transported across a river to take up arms in the defense of Stalingrad. Their boats are attacked by Nazi aircraft. Ships are blown out of the water and unarmed men, who are packed in like sardines, are machine gunned.

Those who jump overboard to escape the carnage are shot down by their own officers.

Things get worse once the troops land. They are rushed into battle, but only every other man gets a rifle. Facing overwhelming German odds, many of those who survive the onslaught attempt to retreat and are ó again ó mowed down by their own officers for cowardice.

This is the setting for an often compelling, but sometime frivolous, World War II drama based on the real-life exploits of Vassili Zaitsev, a celebrated Russian sniper who emerged as one of the heroes of the siege of Stalingrad.

Enemy at the Gates, which was co-written by Alain Godard and Jean-Jacques Annaud, who also directs, falls into the Hollywood trap of foisting an unnecessary love triangle into a story that is compelling enough to stand on its own.

The main focus of this drama is the war-within-a-war fought by Vassilli and a German sharpshooter, Major Konig (Ed Harris), sent from Berlin for the express purpose of stopping him.

Vassilli (Jude Law) is an unassuming rural lad who merely performs his duty with extraordinary skill. But the Soviet propaganda machine óled by Danilov (Joseph Fiennes) ó use him as a rallying tool to boost morale. The Soviet press publishes his daily kill count.

Where Enemy at the Gates excels is portraying the cat-and-mouse duel between Vassilli and Konig, as each tries to learn about the other and anticipate each others moves.

The rubble of Stalingrad serves as a broken chess board in which these two marksmen play a deadly game of hide-and-seek.

This would be enough to sustain this wartime drama, but for some reason a love interest is added in Tania (Rachel Weisz), one of the many women soldiers fighting to save her city. She falls in love with Vassilli, Danilov falls in love with her and their various passions fracture the close friendship that has grown between Vassilli and Danilov.

Why this hokum is needed is beyond explanation. The story stands well enough on its own. If anything, it degrades the heroics and sacrifices displayed in the movie, merely using the war as a backdrop for a clichéd situation that has been filmed thousands of times before.

Yet the Vassilli-Konig scenario is so strong, it even overshadows this banal subplot.

As Vassilli, Law is quiet, self-effacing and modest. He does not consider himself a hero, but a soldier doing his duty. This young killing machine displays a boyish innocence.

Fiennes is pragmatic, ambitious and self-serving as Danilov, who wants not only to help save Stalingrad, but help promote the Soviet message of communism.

Harris is calculating as the German marksman. He shows a low-key warmth and weariness that hides a deadly ruthlessness. He is a noble character who admires his prey while continuing to hunt him.

Weisz, unfortunately, is pretty, but bland, and adds nothing to the proceedings.

Worth noting is Bob Hoskins as Nikita Khrushchev, sent by Stalin to oversee the cityís defense, and save it at any cost ó including sacrificing every soldier under his command. Hoskinsí Khrushchev is a raw combination of charm, maliciousness and savagery.

Enemy at the Gates is an interesting experience. How true to history it is, of course, is questionable. But it would have been much improved if the filmmakers had shown the courage of Vassilli and jettisoned the familiar subplot and concentrated on the hunter and the hunted.

Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier. in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or at bobbloom@iquest.net. Other reviews by Bloom can be found at www.jconline.com by clicking on golafayette. Bloom's reviews also can be found on the Web at the Internet Movie Database site: http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom

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