Enemy at the Gates (2001)
Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud
A Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad in WWII.
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4 films that influenced Enemy at the Gates
What critics say influenced Enemy at the Gates
Beginning with an opening that lumbers precariously close to Saving Private Ryan's, Enemy at the Gates plots a torturous course through blood-soaked battle scenes, soap-opera love triangles, and some highly questionable deux ex machina.
In the opening of Enemy at the Gates, as the boats land on the shores of the Volga River and the soldiers disembark in full assault mode, it's impossible not to think of Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan and raise the expectation that we're in for the first great war movie of the new millennium.
Director Jean-Jacques Annaud starts with an epic battle scene, a la Saving Private Ryan.
You’ll be thinking of Saving Private Ryan during this -- and wishing you’d stayed home and watched that on DVD instead.
The grime splashed on the lens, the stark and chaotic cinematography, the way the sounds of battle are toned down so we can take in the sorrowful music and pause to wonder why people do these things to each other — all the tricks that seemed so innovative in Saving Private Ryan and Gladiator are by now a familiar part of our film grammar, and they are all present and accounted for in Enemy at the Gates.
Luckily, the money appears to have been well-spent, because the film’s special effects and set design rival those of Saving Private Ryan.
Danilov introduces Vassily to Mrs. Filipov (Eva Mattes, "Woyzeck") who provides an underground shelter and food.
As filmed by cinematographer Robert Fraisse ("Seven Years in Tibet," "Ronin") and taking place within the Oscar-caliber sets of production designer Wolf Kroeger ("The Last of the Mohicans," "The 13th Warrior") and the marvelous score from composer James Horner ("Titanic," "Apollo 13"), the film starts off with a literal bang, showing the Russian forces forging the Volga River into Stalingrad in a sequence that many will undoubtedly compare to the opening one in Spielberg's classic war film.
In that regard, director and co-writer Jean-Jacques Annaud ("Seven Years in Tibet," "The Bear") and fellow screenwriter Alain Godard ("The Name of the Rose," "Quest For Fire") have fashioned not just a singular romantic relationship, but something of a love triangle, although that gives the late developing situation a bit more gravity than it really exudes.
Joseph Fiennes! Rachel Weisz!) as Russian soldiers, and all of this directed by the Frenchman (Jean-Jacques Annaud), who made "The Name of the Rose," well, it gives you pause, doesn't it, monsieur, mein Freund, mate, dude or comrade?
The screenplay (Jean-Jacques Annaud and Alain Godard of "The Name of the Rose") does not overly glorify or vilify either side of the conflict.