Enemy at the Gates

Enemy at the Gates is an old-fashioned, traditional war film that is a little ponderous. For example, the English actors speak English in the roles of Germans and Russians. On the film's plus side, it does not take sides. There may be a hero, but neither Germans nor Russians are shown in a rosy light. If the Americans had played a leading part in the battle, the film would probably have turned out somewhat less objective.

The film is about the Battle of Stalingrad, but it does not provide any historical overview. Instead it focuses on the young Russian peasant boy Vassili Zaitsev, who is a more than competent marksman. By a twist of fate he saves one of his superiors, Danilov, who, it turns out, works for the press service, or perhaps rather the Russian propaganda machine. He sees the expediency of creating heroic images that the population and the soldiers can admire and try to emulate. So Vassili becomes a sniper, and the Russian media turn the peasant boy into a hero.

The hero's role is a dangerous one, however, for the Germans want more than anything to demoralise the Russians, so they send the master marksman Major König to the city to shoot Vassili. Alongside this macho showdown, Danilov and Vassili fall in love with the same woman, Tania, who is both well educated and beautiful. Danilov can only look on helplessly as she prefers Vassili, but can he put up with it?

Slight and boyish Jude Law is completely miscast as the peasant boy Vassili. Here you expect a broad-shouldered country lad with coarse features and coarse manners, and instead you get a blond youth with fine features and the most beautiful schoolbook English. That is a bit hard to swallow.