Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1567 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-11-19
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, German, Russian
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 131 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Enemy at the Gates opens with a pivotal event of World War II--the German invasion of Stalingrad--recreated in Saving Private Ryan-like epic scale as ill-trained Russian soldiers face German attack or punitive execution if they flee from the enemy's advance. Director Jean-Jacques Annaud captures this madness with urgent authenticity, creating a massive context for a more intimate battle waged amidst the city's ruins. Embellished from its basis in fact, the story shifts to an intense cat-and-mouse game between a Russian shepherd raised to iconic fame, and a German marksman whose skill is unmatched in its lethal precision. Vassily Zaitzev (Jude Law) has been sniping Nazis one bullet at a time, while the German Major Konig (Ed Harris) has been assigned to kill Vassily and spare Hitler from further embarrassment. There's love in this war, too, as Vassily connects with a woman soldier (Rachel Weisz), but she is also loved by Danilov (Joseph Fiennes), the Soviet officer who promotes his friend Vassily as Russia's much-needed hero. This romantic rivalry lends marginal interest to the central plot, but it's not enough to make this a classic war film. Instead it's a taut, well-made suspense thriller isolated within an epic battle, and although Annaud and cowriter Alain Godard (drawing from William Craig's book and David L Robbins' novel The War of the Rats) fail to connect the parallel plots with any lasting impact, the production is never less than impressive. Highly conventional but handled with intelligence and superior craftsmanship, this is warfare as strategic entertainment, without compromising warfare as a man-made hell on Earth. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

On the DVD: with a choice of Dolby 5.1 or DTS the sound is suitably spectacular (James Horner's Prokofiev-inspired score comes up well amid whizzing bullets and explosions), while the 2.35:1 anamorphic picture makes the best of the epic battle sequences. "Through the Crosshairs" is a standard 20-minute behind-the-scenes documentary, which is complemented by "Inside Enemy at the Gates", a 15-minute montage of interviews with the stars and director. There's also a 25-minute French-made documentary (with English subtitles) about the real battle that includes a short interview with the real Vassily Zaitsev. Eight brief deleted scenes can be played separately or neatly inserted into the movie by pressing Enter when the gun sight icon appears on screen. The commentary by director Jean-Jacques Annaud is as informative as might be expected from a director who always seems passionate about his film projects. Storyboards, posters, a trailer and filmographies round out an excellent disc package. --Mark Walker

Video Description
DVD Special Features:
Director's Commentary
3 Documentaries
Deleted scenes
Filmographies
Story boards
Film posters
Theatrical trailer
Audio description
2.35:1 aspect ratio, widescreen 16:9 version
Language: English Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English Hard of Hearing

Synopsis
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.

Customer Reviews

One of the best war movies
This is one of the best war movies ever, in my opinion, together with 'Platoon' and 'Black Hawk Down'. It is very realistic, conveying masterly how it could be to be a sniper in Stalingrad. It is also very accurate historically, for example, it is true that, at the start of the battle, men were thrown in, on the Soviet side, without weapons. The story itself is also based on real events. Finally, the actors are simply brilliant, from Jude Law, to Rachel Weisz, to the little boy.

A great war movie
A great movie that captures the grim reality of the siege of Stalingrad and the lunacy of the Russian war strategy in the wake of Joseph Stalin's decimation of the military officer classses. Okay, as some reviewers have remarked, the accents are a bit dodgy, but let's face it, fake Russian accents are irritating, and I don't want to listen to Russian dialogue with subtitles. Jude Law handles the role of Vasily fine, though perhaps he sounds a little too refined for a semi-literate Russian peasant. The star turns for me are Ed Harris as the cold, calculating Major Keonig and Bob Hoskins as a totally off-the-wall Nikita Kruschev, who cares far more about keeping 'The Boss' happy and climbing the political ladder than the lives of the troops he commands.

It's great to see a movie that recognises the Russian contribution to defeating the axis forces. I'm in no doubt that D-Day would have been impossible without most of the German army tied up on the Russian front.

2* or 3*?
I hovered over my ranking for this and have finally gone for the generous 3* because there were bits that were genuinely gripping: i.e. Ed Harris' powerful performance of the cold and enigmatic German sniper, and Bob Hoskin's completely left-field Kruschev.

However as other reviewers have said, the rest is a wasted opportunity. Jude Law completely fails to be anything more than inadequate as the reluctant Soviet hero; the normally passionately-intensive Joseph Fiennes has absolutely nothing to get his teeth into, and Rachel Weisz is allowed to be nothing more than the bimbo love interest breaking the bonds of male friendship... The whole love triangle thing is just ridiculous and such an obvious rip-off of Dr Zhivago.

The setting too makes this a skirmish amongst the factories rather than the turning point of Hitler's advance across Europe and lacks any sense of scale or criticality. And the ending is just the most appallingly cliched ever...

This could have been a tense and intense drama but I'm afraid it's just schmaltzy emotions wrapped up in khaki - a severe disappointment.