Reel News

Enemy at the Gates - video rental

By Donna Denson

The opening sequence of Enemy At the Gates depicts the 1942-43 siege of Stalingrad. Red Army soldier Vassili Zaitzev (Jude Law) is thrown off a train and into the heat of battle. Zaitsev is thrown into a boat where the choice is to stay on board and be shot by German fighter planes or jump into the water and be shot by their own commanders. Upon making it to the streets of the demolished city, political officers distribute an ever-diminishing supply of rifles while screaming: "The one with the rifle shoots. The one without the rifle follows. When the one with the rifle is killed, the one behind him picks up the rifle and shoots."

It's ten more minutes before Vassili finally gets a rifle. But when he does, he makes an extraordinary discovery: the shepherd boy from the Urals is not just a helpless target, but a potential predator of deadly skill. He will spend the rest of the battle in the Red Army's sniper division, picking Germans off like the wolves he once poached as a boy. The story turns an epic tale of one of World War II's bloodiest campaigns into a surprisingly intimate drama of hunter-on-hunter strategy, luck and sheer, desperate strength of will.

Vassili hooks up with Danilov (Joseph Fiennes), a political officer who quickly utilizes the propaganda value of Vassili's triumphs. He builds Vassili up as an instant legend, exploiting his feats as a sniper to build up the spirits of their comrades. And it's this projected image of Vassili that eventually causes the Nazis to set their own hunter on the man hunting them. They send for their top sharpshooter, Major Konig (Ed Harris), and give him orders to get Vassili, no matter what the cost.

"It's the very essence of class struggle," Danilov tells Vassili. But Vassili becomes increasingly disenchanted with being Danilov's pet project, especially when he suspects there's no way he can possibly beat Konig. Rachel Weisz portrays Vassili's fellow sniper Tania, an educated, young woman, loyal to the cause.

The acting is uniformly good, with special mention going to the weary Harris. Law and Fiennes, two men often accused of coasting by on their good looks, give flawless performances. Weisz proves believable at suggesting a realistic girlish innocence and it's understandable that these two very different men could fall in love with her simultaneously.