Whilst masses of films have been churned out about the European campaigns of the Second World War, there have been few films set on the Russian front. We all know why this is. The Americans are soley responsible for winning the war and any part of the fighting that they were not involved in ... Read review
Enemy at the Gatesopens with a pivotal event of World War II--the German invasion of ... more
Stalingrad--recreated inSaving Private Ryan-like epic scale as ill-trained Russian soldiers face German attack or punitive execution if they flee from the enemy's adva...
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Enemy at the Gatesopens with a pivotal event of World War II--the German invasion of ... more
Stalingrad--recreated inSaving Private Ryan-like epic scale as ill-trained Russian soldiers face German attack or punitive execution if they flee from the enemy's adva...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
While the Nazi and Russian armies hurl rank after rank of soldiers at each other and the ... more
world fearfully awaits the outcome of the battle of Stalingrad the celebrated Russian sniper Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law) quietly stalks his enemies one man at a ti...
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It's 1942 and the German and Russian armies are embroiled in one of the most momentous ... more
battles of WW2, the Battle of Stalingrad. Defeat at Stalingrad could hand Germany victory in Europe and Stalin has sent Kruschev (Bob Hoskins) to personally oversea ...
Production Year: 1945 - Drama - Director: David Lean - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Carey, Cyril Raymond
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Advantages: stunning visuals, Disadvantages: grim, gritty and a bit gory
Whilst masses of films have been churned out about the European campaigns of the Second World War, there have been few films set on the Russian front. We all know why this is. The Americans are soley responsible for winning the war and any part of the fighting that they were not involved in is not worth learning about. There has been a move recently to make more realistic historical movies and this , I think re-dresses the balance and reminds us ... ...site of some of the most horrific and desperate struggles.
The action takes place in Stalingrad, a city that became a personal battle between, Hitler and Stalin, a city in ruins and a city still heavily populated with Russian civilians. The main protaganists are a young hunter turned sniper, Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law) and a German marksman called Major Koning (Ed Harris). Due to the nature of the battlefield they are on, conventional ... more
Whilst masses of films have been churned out about the European campaigns of the Second World War, there have been few films set on the Russian front. We all know why this is. The Americans are soley responsible for winning the war and any part of the fighting that they were not involved in is not worth learning about. There has been a move recently to make more realistic historical movies and this , I think re-dresses the balance and reminds us that the "total" war of the Eastern Front was the site of some of the most horrific and desperate struggles.
The action takes place in Stalingrad, a city that became a personal battle between, Hitler and Stalin, a city in ruins and a city still heavily populated with Russian civilians. The main protaganists are a young hunter turned sniper, Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law) and a German marksman called Major Koning (Ed Harris). Due to the nature of the battlefield they are on, conventional war is difficult and has been replaced by a cat and mouse game played by solo Russian snipers, picking off important targets and trying to evade capture. As the body count rises, the morale of the Russian troops rise and the German spirits drop. Enter Major Koning, brought in with one goal, take out the Russian number one sniper.The film then revolves around the personal duel between the two, through the urban hell of burnt out factories and shattered houses.
The sub plot is provided by the love interest, Tania (Rachael Weis) a militia soldier who gradually falls for Vassili. This is complicated by Danilov (Joseph Fiennes), Vassili`s fair-weather friend who also has designs on the girl. Danilov is the only character given real depth. His fate is entwined with Vassilis, and when the battle starts slipping away from them, his true colours are shown. Amongst the British dominated cast, even Bob Hoskins turns up as Nikita Krushchev, military leader of the Russian counter attack and future premier of the country. Eveyone seems to be reasonably well cast in their role, no-one stands out in particular, though Ed Harris does make a very stoic German.
The action is grim and gritty and unless you are a fan of the more realistic style of film making, it may not be your cup of tea. The ending is a bit obvious but there are, I guess, only two ways of ending the film, either the German wins the duel, or the Russian does, I wont tell you which ending they used.
There has been a lot of debate about the films historical accuracy, something which I do harp on about a bit. Whilst Braveheart, for example, was turned into a fairy story and the Patriot was set in a parallel dimension, the basic backdrop to this story is pretty good. Vassili Zaitsev did exist, not the Russians top sniper, but a very successful one, whether he fought such a duel with a German marksman is not known. What it offers is a possible story of a small part of a big campaign, if you made the film based on recorded fact, you wouldnt have much of a film. The filmmaker has to flesh out a story to keep the audience satisfied and I think that this has been done well, without altering the focus of the story. This then is a melting pot of all the small stories, the loves, lives and horrors of the normal people stuggling just to survive, it may not have happened this way, but there are valid truths in the individual aspects of the story.
If you just want a hard edged action movie, then this will fit the bill and may even stimulate you to find out more about this forgotten part of our recent past, the film "Stalingrad" is the obvious choice.
Great, I didnt even mention Saving Private Ryan once.....damn!
Advantages: Superb extras and a very well presented disc. Disadvantages: Dull movie after a great start and potential sound problems on some players.
...time. So, is Enemy At The Gates worth your viewing time? Umm, the battle scenes are excellent, the special effects are good and the opening 20-30 minutes bring the brutality of Communist Russia during wartime into really sharp focus but aside from that it's all rather mediocre. The casting I had something of a hard time with for starters. It was difficult to take it all that seriously when all the actors speak in rather plumby English accents(arguably ... ...over! Safe in that knowledge Enemy At The Gates becomes little more than watching two men stumbling around amongst the rubble with a silly love triangle thrown it to add something else to it all. Not my idea of fun and I was bored by the 60 minute mark with another 65 to go... Sadly, this could have been a far more interesting movie if it had had the intelligence to explore some of its more interesting themes. We are given a taste of the importance ...
wampyrii 24.06.2003 (29.06.2003)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Enemy At The Gates (DVD)
Advantages: A very complex, thought provoking film Disadvantages: Not ideal for an easy nights viewing
...war then the British funded Enemy of the Gates sounded like a break from the norm. The setting in the Russian city gives it a slightly different spin on the typical war film with all of the action taking place in the city of Stalingrad. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this movie and it certainly stands up amongst the best war films in the genre. With the backing of the British studios the direction comes from French director Jean-Jacques ... ...His direction is superb and he has all the scene’s set up perfectly throughout the war ravaged City centre. He has somehow captured exactly what you would expect the city to have looked like with mud and dirt everywhere. He’s made the film look visually superb with the right lighting and scene setting and that adds a real sense of realism to his direction and in turn to the fell of the film as a whole.
It also helps that the plot doesn’t seem to ...
Andy.mack 03.08.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Enemy At The Gates (DVD)
Advantages: Great battle scenes, tense action Disadvantages: Some average acting
Enemy at the Gates is a film directed and produced by Jean-Jacques Annaud (Seven years in Tibet) and was released in 2001. The film is loosely based around the real life exploits of Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law), a Russian sniper who fought in the battle for the ruined city of Stalingrad during the Second World War. The film starts in a snowy field with boy lying next to a bush holding a rifle. About fifty metres away a wolf is prowling in the snow ... ...The boy watches the wolf plodding through the snow and aims his rifle as these words are uttered in a barely perceptible whisper,
“I am a stone, I do not move. I put snow in my mouth so he won’t see my breath. I take my time, I let him come closer. I have only one bullet, I aim at his eye; very gently my finger presses on the trigger. I have no fear, I‘m a big boy now”
As the scene pans out we see that next to him is his Grandfather and it is him ...
kepler3001 05.03.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Enemy At The Gates (DVD)
Advantages: So bad it's good. Disadvantages: So bad.
...during the Battle of Stalingrad. Enemy At The Gates is yet another one of those historically-accurate-well-not-quite,-maybe-a-little-ok-it-never-happened-at-all movies, that Hollywood is currently spewing along with the likes of Black Hawk Down, U571 and Behind Enemy Lines. U571 is probably the biggest offender of not being accurate with its gasping snub to the English and the changing of an English Sub to an American one just so that in years to ... ...to think.
Enemy At The Gates then, is another glorification of battle with lots of ‘Private Ryan’ gore, ‘Matrix’ effects and ridiculous Dick Van Dyck style accents (no they’re not all cockney, but if they’re cockneys as bad as their Russian I don’t want to hear it, E’llo Mary!) The only problem with stealing styles from other movies is that you’d better make sure you do it better than they did. Unfortunately Director Jean Jacques Annaud didn’t think ...
willgould 25.04.2002 (12.06.2002)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Enemy At The Gates (DVD)
“Ooh, they don’t make ‘em like they used to” screams your Aunt Ethel, her dentures making a sickening squelch as she sucks them back onto the roof of her mouth. As her fingers roam around the Quality Street tin for a brazil nut in caramel, you stare at the TV. It’s Xmas. Once more you have to go “oooh!” when the German says “good luck” as the English make bad their escape in ITV’s surprise ... ...your Matrixes (“they make me head hurt!”), your Pulp Fictions (“too much bloody swearing!”) and your Basic Instincts (“here, she’ll catch her death going out like that!”). Rightly so. Fortunately for the shrivelled old hag – and for all you lovely ciaoers out there, it’s taken a Frenchman to direct a great war film with British and American actors playing Russians and Germans, mostly in their ...
peppersinclaire 18.12.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Enemy At The Gates (DVD)
"...Annaud's film boasts harrowing battle scenes....The film brings history to vital life..." (Rolling Stone, p.145-6, 12/04/2001)
"...[Harris performance has a] chilling dignity and authority..." (Sight and Sound, p.45, 01/04/2001)
"...Excellent central performances. Law proves a first-rank leading man, radiating intelligence, nobility and sex appeal..." -- 4 out of 5 stars (Total Film, p.82-3, 01/04/2001)
DVD Description
September 1942. The German Army has advanced to the gates of Stalingrad. The Russian Army holds on desperately. It is so poorly equipped that every pair of soldiers is given a single rifle--the second man only gets the weapon when the first is cut down. Trapped in no man's land between the opposing armies, Russian recruit Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law) finally acquires a rifle from Political Officer Danilov (Joseph Fiennes). Danilov is astonished when Zaitsev picks off several German officers. On their return to the Russian lines, Danilov writes about Zaitsev's exploits in the army newspaper. Zaitsev is assigned to a sniper unit. He kills more German officers and, thanks to Danilov, becomes a hero. In retaliation, the Germans bring in sharpshooter Major Konig (Ed Harris) from Berlin--to hunt Zaitsev. The two snipers engage in a desperate duel, as the appalling Battle of Stalingrad rages. In ENEMY AT THE GATES, director Jean-Jacques Annaud uses a palate of dull greens, blues, and greys to tell the powerful, true story of Russian sniper Vassili Zaitsev. The film is distinguished by fine performances from Law, Fiennes, Rachel Weisz as a female soldier, and Bob Hoskins as Nikita Khrushchev--with Harris particularly notable as the chilly, aristocratic Konig.
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