Enemy at the Gates

Enemy at the Gates (Stalingrad in France and L'Ennemi aux portes in Canada) is a 2001 war film directed, co-written, and produced by Jean-Jacques Annaud, based on William Craig's 1973 nonfiction book Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad, which describes the events surrounding the Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942–1943. The screenplay was written by Annaud and Alain Godard. The film's main character is a fictionalized version of Vasily Zaitsev, a sniper and Hero of the Soviet Union during World War II. It includes a snipers' duel between Zaitsev and a Wehrmacht sniper school director, Major Erwin König. The cast includes Jude Law as Zaitsev, Rachel Weisz as Tania Chernova, and Ed Harris as König, with Joseph Fiennes, Bob Hoskins, Ron Perlman, Eva Mattes, Gabriel Marshall Thomson, and Matthias Habich in supporting roles. Plot Vassili Zaitsev, a soldier in the Red Army, is sent to the frontline of the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942. Forced into a suicidal charge without a rifle but with ammunition, he hides among a pile of corpses, while a tank shell incapacitates a car. The occupant, Commissar Danilov, takes cover in the same heap of corpses and finds a rifle. Vassili reveals himself, advising the commissar not to fire until an explosion covers the noise. Danilov gives the rifle to Vassili, who, to the former's astonishment, is able to kill five German soldiers in less than a minute. Nikita Khrushchev demands ideas from his subordinates on morale. While the other commissars suggest more severe discipline and terror, Danilov, now a senior lieutenant, recommends giving the troops inspiration. He suggests that they should "make examples, but examples to follow," and recommends Zaitsev for that role. Soon after, Danilov begins publishing heroic tales of Vassili's exploits in the army's newspaper. Vassili is transferred to the sniper division and becomes friends with Danilov. Both also become romantically interested in Tania Chernova, a private in the local militia. In fear for her safety, Danilov has her transferred away to an intelligence unit, ostensibly to make use of her German skills in translating radio intercepts.