Posted: 03/22/2001

Enemy at the Gates

(2001)

by D. Patrick Seitz

The much anticipated anti-war war film showcasing Jude Law, directed by Jean Jacques Annaud.

It many ways, Enemy at the Gates is just another story of an extraordinary person who eventually falls victim to their own distorted and over-zealous publicity. But with guns and bombs. Lots of ‘em.

Enemy at the Gates is the fictionalized account of Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law), a Russian sniper of humble origins whose uncanny skills with a gun during the Battle of Stalingrad transformed him into one of the biggest Soviet heroes of World War II. He meets Danilov (Joseph Fiennes), a Red Party political officer, during a random encounter in which Zaitsev picks off a small gathering of Nazi soldiers like so many clay pigeons. Danilov gets Zaitsev transferred into the sniper division (saving him from an inevitable death, given the superior Nazi numbers and cruelty of the Soviet Army), and writes up glowing accounts of Zaitsev’s exploits which greatly bolster the home team’s flagging morale.

With each additional kill, Zaitsev’s fame grows, thanks to Danilov’s feverish workings of the propaganda machine. Eventually, the Nazis send in their best sniper, Major Konig (Ed Harris), to eliminate Zaitsev and the positive propaganda he engenders. It is at this point that the horrors and destruction of the Battle of Stalingrad take a backseat to the fatal cat-and-mouse game between the snipers. It is established almost immediately that Konig’s skills are equal to Zaitsev’s, with the odds being pretty good that the German is the better shot of the two. Zaitsev claims that Konig is the superior marksman, and as time goes by without a resolution to the stalemate, we realize that he’s not just spouting false modesty.

Director Jean Jacques Annaud tosses in the character of a female sniper (played by Rachael Weisz), Tania, for the purpose of an obligatory and needless love triangle between herself, Danilov, and Zaitsev. She does a fine job, but the fact still remains that her presence in Enemy at the Gates is superfluous. It is refreshing to see a war in which women were allowed to fight along side the menfolk, though. One wonders if the U.S. would take on such a stance were our major cities ever reduced to a pile of rubble comparable to that of World War II Stalingrad. It makes Rosie the Riveter look like a girlie girl.

By and large, I found Enemy at the Gates to be an enjoyable film. Rumored to be the most expensive European movie ever made, the shots of the ruined city really go to show how much bang one can get for their buck. The David and Goliath story of the country boy versus his methodical and unflappable foe kept me engaged, and it was refreshing to watch a war movie with nary an American soldier to be found. The film is well-cast, especially Ron Perlman’s woefully short appearance as a steel-toothed sniper and Bob Hoskins’ portrayal of Nikita Kruschev.

My biggest complaint with the film is one of accents…or the lack of therein. I take issue with the lack of appropriate accents in the film among the principal characters. I don’t pretend to know how much Jude Law, Rachael Weisz, and Bob Hoskins earned for their work in Enemy at the Gates, but I’m sure it was enough to warrant their attempting a Russian accent. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Ed Harris defended his unaccented character by way of the comment, ”[Director] Jean Jacques Annaud specifically asked me not to do a German accent. A lot of times the German accent in war movies becomes a cliché — a Hogan’s Heroes kind of deal.” Frankly, I think there’s a wide enough spectrum between sounding American and sounding like Colonol Klink that Harris could have split the difference and pulled it off. You’ve got Brits playing Russians and sounding British. You’ve got Americans playing Germans and sounding American. And, in the case of Ron Perlman, you’ve got an American playing a Russian and sounding British. Go figure.

Enemy at the Gates is no Saving Private Ryan, nor does it try to be. For the niche it occupies, it’s a good film. Sure, Jude Law’s a pretty-boy, but his travails are loads more fun to watch than Woody Harrelson blowing off his namesake appendage in The Thin Red Line or Dylan McDermott getting a bit of “boom-boom” in Hamburger Hill. Besides, the Cold War is over. Now, the good guy and the Russians can win in the very same film.

D. Patrick Seitz is a Los Angeles-based actor, writer and voiceover artist.

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