Movie Review: Enemy at the Gates

I recently watched this 2001 movie Enemy at the Gates. The film is based on a true story of a Russian sniper Vassili Zaitsev's fight against the German army during the siege of Stalingrad. The movie begins with a very sombre note of a under equipped Soviet army getting battered by the better equipped Nazi forces.

The main reason why I am totally impressed by this movie is the way in which a relatively unknown soldier is made into a national phenomenon and his name is deified to inculcate a sense of national pride and global respect. Vassili Zaitsev is a normal soldier fighting for his country like millions of others across the world. But by making a movie and highlighting the story of achievements in an exemplary movie format he has been made a phenomenon.

I wish our Indian film makers would learn from hollywood about the type of movies to be made. Instead of sticking to the stupid love-sex-violence formula which don't provide any intellectual stimulation, Indian film makers should start thinking about making movies which create a sense of national pride, patriotism and a sense of the Indian identity among its viewers who are primarily the uneducated and undereducated masses.

Plot Summary
The initial scene is specially scary when we see groups of young Soviet recruits being pushed into the battle. They have one rifle for two men and an officer is screaming on the megaphone: "When the one with the rifle falls, the one behind picks up the rifle and fights." The motivational speeches work and unarmed and under armed soldiers rush into a confrontation with the third reich, knowing well that they are facing certain death. If they advance the enemy bullet is likely to get them and if they retreat their own officers will kill them as deserters.

Vassili Zaitsev played by Jude Law is one of the soldiers who displays exemplary marksmanship and kills five German soldiers with as many bullets. This feat gets noticed by Political officer Danilov (Joseph Fiennes) who writes about Vassili in the army newspaper and thus begins their journey to fame. Vassili goes ahead daily killing German officers and virtually creates panic among the army of the Third Reich. Not to be out done the Nazi army calls in their best sniper Major Konig (Ed Harris) to eliminate Vassili. At this point the story takes a turn and becomes a cat and mouse game between the two snipers leading to one triumphing over the other.

There is a little love triangle between Jude Law, Joseph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz which leads to some complications in the story. Jude Law plays the central character Vassili and Rachel Weisz plays his lover Tania, also a Russian soldier. Their stellar performances are very efficiently supported by Ed Harris who plays Major Konig (German sniper) and Joseph Fiennes (Political officer Danilov).